Mónica Spear Mootz (born October 1, 1984 in Maracaibo, Zulia State, Venezuela) is a former beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Venezuela 2004 and an actress.
Despite being considered a dark horse during the Miss Venezuela 2004 pageant, Spear went on to win the national crown and represent Venezuela at Miss Universe 2005. She made the top 15 after Ana Karina Áñez (Miss Venezuela 2003) failed to make the top 15 in Miss Universe 2004 (the first time in 22 years for a Venezuelan in Quito, Ecuador. She went on to place in the top five after the evening gown and swimsuit competitions. During the interview or Final Question round, Spear failed to answer the question given by Miss Mexico, Laura Elizondo, and therefore was named only 4th runner-up.
Prior to being named the “fifth most beautiful woman in the universe,” Spear completed a bachelor’s degree in theater from the University of Central Florida before returning to Venezuela to compete in the national pageant. Her participation in Miss Venezuela also became notorious when she was asked during the traditional “breakfast with press” the day after the pageant, because of her degree, which Venezuelan playwright she liked the most, to which she answered, “Gabriel García Márquez”, a Colombian writer. She crowned her Miss Venezuela successor, Jictzad Viña, on September 15, 2005.
Spear got married to Henry Berry, an English businessman, in June 2008 and gave birth to a daughter, Maya, in October 2008.
She is currently one of the most successful actresses in Venezuela for her main roles in soap operas. She took her first role as a protagonist in the successful RCTV soap opera “Mi Prima Ciela” (My Cousin Ciela), in which she played a high school student ill with leukemia. The show was a success in Venezuela and other parts of South America, and it was also televised in the U.S. by TeleFutura. Spears held the starring role in Venevision’s soap opera “La Mujer Pefecta” in 2010, and recently had a starring role in “Flor Salvaje”; a Spanish-language telenovela produced by the United States-based television network Telemundo and RTI Producciones.
