Kirstin Elrod
Quick Facts
Biography
Kirstin Marie Elrod is an American actress and beauty pageant titleholder. She was the Miss North Carolina 2004 and was second runner-up at the Miss America Pageant.
Early life and education
Kirstin Elrod was born in Cary, North Carolina. She is a graduate of Cary Senior High School where she was a cheerleader, member of the State Championship Cross Country Team, representative on the Student Council, and in the Students Against Drunk Driving, United Students in Action, and Key Clubs.
Later, Elrod attended the North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA) on scholarship and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in opera performance. While at NCSA, she performed in approximately ten productions with her school as well as professional companies. She took a professional leave of absence for a semester and worked professionally as an actor at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire for their 2003 season. After returning to school, she gave a senior recital consisting of music from every major stylistic and historical period and in six languages (English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, and Russian), before graduating.
Career
Beauty pageants
In 2002, Elrod competed in Miss Garner pageant in Garner, North Carolina, and was crowned Miss Garner 2002. In 2004, she won the Miss Carolina Foothills title.
In 2004, at the age of 23, she competed in Miss North Carolina and won the title of Miss North Carolina 2004. She then competed at Miss America 2005, the 78th Miss America pageant held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and placed second runner-up out of 52 contestants. The title was won by Miss Alabama Deidre Downs and the first runner-up was Miss Louisiana Jennifer Dupont.
Acting
After Miss America 2005, Elrod relocated to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a career in acting.
In 2006, she played "Janice" in Andy Wells' short film Judgment Day alongside Carl Cloud, Tom Spano, and Margaret Turner. In 2008, she was seen as "Melina" in David Rountree-written and directed Will to Power, starring Rountree, Chris Moir, Rosie Garcia, Jerry Mathers, and Jonathan Breck.