Ariana Madix

Ariana Madix (born June 24, 1985) is a television host, reality television personality, actress, and businesswoman. She was a cast member and a former bartender on the Bravo reality television series Vanderpump Rules (2013–2024). She became the permanent host of Love Island USA in 2024.

She finished in third place on season 32 of ABC's Dancing with the Stars, paired with Pasha Pashkov. Her cocktail book, Single AF Cocktails, was released on December 5, 2023 and became a New York Times best seller. She made her Broadway theatre debut as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago in January 2024.

Madix was born on June 24, 1985, in Melbourne, Florida, and raised by her father, James, and mother, Tanya. Ariana lived with both of her parents as well as her younger brother, Jeremy Madix. James is of Irish descent and Tanya's ethnicity is unknown. In a Glamour interview, Madix said: "My dad would not come home. He's no longer with us and I love him and feel like he was going through some stuff and doing his best in a lot of ways, but he would have a tendency to be done with work and be at the dive bar as opposed to helping us with our homework. And my mom did everything." In therapy, she realized that overachieving was a coping mechanism, saying "If I'm perfect, then he'll want to be there."

She began riding horses at age 6 and had a competitive equestrian career. She also won two national dance championships. She graduated from Eau Gallie High School in 2003. In 2007, she graduated from Flagler College, where she received a dual bachelor's degree in Theatre and Broadcast Communications. She worked as costumed characters such as Ariel, Cinderella and Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) at Disney World while she was studying in college. After college, she moved to New York City with a dream to "be on Broadway." She stayed for five years and worked as a bartender and hostess at restaurant Butter.

Early in her career, she was frequently cast in videos for comedy website CollegeHumor. Madix struggled to get television roles in New York City, so she decided to move to Los Angeles, saying: "I was doing acting stuff, but I couldn't push past whatever [I needed to] because I didn't have legitimate television credits or anything to be able to move into the next level." She started working at Lisa Vanderpump's restaurants SUR and Villa Blanca, which earned her a spot on the reality television series Vanderpump Rules in 2013, following the lives of the SUR, PUMP, and Villa Blanca servers. She appeared on Vanderpump Rules for eleven seasons, until it was announced that the show's twelfth season would feature a new cast.

She had guest roles on several television series, including Fox's live-action sitcom Dads and FX's sitcom Anger Management. She also appeared in films Working It Out (2010), Killer Eye: Halloween Haunt (2011), Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader (2012), Dirty Dealing 3D (2018) and Dead End (2019). In 2019, she appeared as herself in the comedy television series The Other Two, in the episode "Chase Shoots a Music Video". On December 3, 2019, Madix and Tom Sandoval released their cocktail book Fancy AF Cocktails: Drink Recipes from a Couple of Professional Drinkers by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

In March 2023, Madix began filming Lifetime film Buying Back My Daughter (2023) in Vancouver. She plays a police officer Karen, investigating a sex trafficking case. The film is part of the messaging of the network's "Stop Violence Against Women" campaign. On June 7, 2023, People published first photos of Madix as Karen on Buying Back My Daughter. For her role on Vanderpump Rules, Madix and her co-stars Scheana Shay, Katie Maloney and Lala Kent won the "Best Reality On-Screen Team" award at the 2023 MTV Movie & TV Awards. On July 7, 2023, Dancing with the Stars judge Derek Hough announced on Good Morning America that Madix would appear on season 32 of ABC's dance competition series Dancing with the Stars. Madix and her dance partner Pasha Pashkov finished in third place. On July 11, 2023, streaming service Peacock announced that Madix would make a special guest appearance on the fifth season of Love Island. She headed to Fiji to surprise the new cast of ten singles during week two of the show, which aired daily starting July 18, 2023. In November 2023, she was a special guest host in three episodes on the first season of Love Island Games.

Her second cocktailbook, Single AF Cocktails, was released on December 5, 2023 by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group. The book debuted at 10 on The New York Times advice, how-to & miscellaneous best seller list for the week ending December 24, 2023.