Miss Universe 2011: Leila Lopes Becomes First Angolan to Win the Crown (PHOTOS)

Miss Angola, Leila Lopes, on Monday at Sao Paulo in Brazil was crowned as the winner of Miss Universe 2011, becoming the first Angolan Miss Universe.

The 25-year-old dusky beauty became the second black African woman and the fourth black woman in the world to win the Miss Universe title.

Leila Luliana da Costa Vieira Lopes was born on February 26, 1986 in Benguela, Angola, to immigrant parents who were initially from Cape Verde, an island country in the central Atlantic Ocean, during the war.

Lopes have done her studies in Great Britain as a business management student. The official representative of the Angolan community in UK crowned Lopes as Miss Angola UK on October 8, 2010.

Lopes also competed in her country's national beauty pageant, Miss Angola, which was held in Luanda on December 18, 2010. She achieved the Photogenic Award and became the final winner of the title, after which she gained the right to represent Angola in Miss Universe 2011.

The 60th anniversary of the Miss Universe beauty pageant was held at the Credicard Hall, in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Monday, September 12, 2011 where Lopes received the Miss Universe title from the former Miss Universe, Ximena Navarrete of Mexico.