Sofia Rudieva

Sofia Andreevna Rudieva (Russian: София Андреевна Рудьева; born November 15, 1990) is a Russian model and beauty queen who is the winner of Miss Russia 2009. She will represent Russia in the Miss Universe 2009 pageant, to be held in August, 2009, in the Bahamas.

Sofia Rudieva was born in 1990 in Saint Petersburg to a family of artists. At first, she wanted to follow her parents' path, and studied at an art school for 10 years in her childhood. She then studied acting, until she became more confident in her beauty and joined a modelling agency when she was 15. She graduated from high school in 2008, and is planning to study at an university in the future. Prior to her crowning as Miss Russia 2009, she had already several years of experience in modeling business and had taken part in a number of professional fashion shows.

In March, 2009, she won the Miss Russia 2009 pageant, and was awarded with a $100,000 prize. She said she would spend most of her prize money to charity, for helping homeless animals.

She has been named Russia's representative in the Miss Universe 2009 contest, to be held in the Bahamas in August, 2009. She said that she was preparing seriously for the occasion, by taking more training in modelling and acting, doing sports and working to improve her already good English even further.

Sofia has said she feels that winning the crown to Russia would be important for her country. Being asked about the unique characteristics of Russian women, she replied: "I strongly believe that Russian women are strong in spirit. They can be both very strong and energetic on the one hand and tender and sweet wives and caring mothers, on the other. The Russian mother is the best in the world."