Venus Raj

Maria Venus Bayonito Raj-Orillan is a Filipino actress, model, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Binibining Pilipinas Universe 2010. She represented the Philippines at the Miss Universe 2010 pageant, where she placed fourth runner-up. In the Filipino pageantry community, she is recognized as the drought-breaker after ending the country's ten-year unplacement streak at Miss Universe that had lasted since 2000.

Raj was born in Doha, Qatar, to an Indian-American father and a Filipino mother, and is the youngest of five children. Moving to the Philippines as an infant, she grew up in Bato, Camarines Sur. For her first twenty years, she lived in a wooden, bamboo, and anahaw-leaf nipa hut without electricity set in a rice field, using rice paddy dikes to practice her walk. During her time at San Vicente High School, she participated in local pageants and oratorical contests coached by her English teacher, using her prize money to buy land on an installment basis for her mother.

Raj earned a bachelor's degree in communication arts, majoring in journalism, cum laude from Bicol University in Legazpi, Albay, funded by a scholarship from the Francis Papica Foundation. She initially worked as an Information Assistant for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Bicol Region while modeling part-time in Bicol and Manila. Later, she completed a master's degree in community development from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2017 and graduated from the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics in Oxford, England, in June 2021.

Her pageantry career began with Miss Philippines Earth 2008, where she won the title of Miss Philippines Eco Tourism 2008. On March 6, 2010, Raj was crowned Binibining Pilipinas Universe 2010 at the Araneta Coliseum, also earning special awards for Best in Long Gown, Best in Philippine Terno, and Miss Friendship. Despite an initial dethronement over citizenship issues, public support and intervention from the Miss Universe Organization led to her reinstatement after obtaining a Philippine passport.

At the Miss Universe 2010 pageant in Las Vegas, Nevada, Raj achieved the highest rating on the Miss Universe website for a Philippine delegate at 3.54 points. She was selected for a pre-pageant media tour alongside delegates from Australia, Colombia, Haiti, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Miss Universe 2009 Stefania Fernandez. During the finale, she answered a question from actor William Baldwin regarding her biggest mistake by stating she had made no major mistakes, using the popular phrase "Major Major." She finished as fourth runner-up, securing the Philippines' highest placement since 1999.

Following her pageant success, Raj entered television hosting, signing an exclusive contract with ABS-CBN in 2011 and hosting the morning show Umagang Kay Ganda until its 2013 reformat. Outside of media, she supported the group Care For Children. Personal details from her private life include a past one-year relationship with Andrei Felix and her marriage to North Orillan on December 12, 2023.