You don’t usually hear “Miss USA” and “local TV reporter” in the same sentence, but Elle Smith has made that combination her whole identity. The Springfield, Ohio native went from broadcast journalism at the University of Kentucky to the Miss USA crown in 2021, then added modeling and a music-video credit to the résumé. In five minutes, you’ll know what’s solid fact about her bio, what’s still fuzzy, and why two sources can’t agree on her birthday.
Full name: Elle Smith · Born: June 20, 1998 · Place of birth: Springifeld, Ohio, USA · Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) · Title: Miss USA 2021 · Profession: Model, actress
Quick snapshot
- American journalist and beauty-pageant titleholder (Wikipedia)
- Born in Springifeld, Ohio (Seventeen)
- Birth date: June 19 vs. June 20, 1998, depending on the source (Wikipedia vs. IMDb)
- No officially confirmed partner; reports identify Leah Williamson (The Standard)
- November 29, 2021 — crowned Miss USa in Tuls, Oklahoma (Wikipedia)
- December 12, 2021 — Top 10 at MIss universal 2021 in Eilat, Israel (Seventeen)
- Returned to TikTok in January 2026 after a hiatus, posting about fitness goals (via Elle Smith’s TikTok)
- Watch her official Instagram and TikTok for the next career chapter
Nine specs, one pattern: the headline numbers are consistent across her pageannyt and agency profiles, but the birth date in the stats line doesn’t match every source.
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Full name | Elle Smith |
| Birth date | per IMDb; per Wikipedia |
| Birth place | Springfield, Ohio, USA |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) — The Source Models (agency profile) |
| Bust | 34 in |
| Waist | 26 in |
| Hips | 37.5 in |
| Profession | Model, actress |
| Title | Miss USA 2021 |
Who is Elle Smith?
Elle Smith is an American journalist and beauty-pageant titleholder — a pairing that shaped her career before she ever held a crown (Wikipedia). She studied broadcast journalism, worked in local TV news, and then won one of the most-watched pageant titles in the United States.
Elle Smith’s public identity is a three-layer stack — journalist, titleholder, model — and each layer brings a different audience. That’s why one-label bios keep missing the local-TV reporting that made her a credible Miss USA.
Early life and background
- Graduated from Shawnee High School in 2016 and the University of Kentucky in 2020, where she majored in broadcast journalism, minored in political science, and served as vice president of the campus chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists (Seventeen)
- Worked as a multimedia journalist at WHAS11 in Louisville, an ABC-affiliated station serving Kentucky and southern Indiana, before entering pageants (Seventeen’s career profile)
That TV-news foundation is the part of her résumé most pageant bios skip, but it explains why Smith reads as a journalist first and a titleholder second.
Career as a model
- Represented by The Source Models, a commercial and editorial modeling agency
- Agency profile lists her at 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) with measurements of 34-26-37.5 (The Source Models)
Those numbers put her in the tall range for runway and commercial work, which is part of why her post-pageant portfolio expanded past TV news.
For casting directors, the pageant title is a door-opener, but the agency stats are the actual filter — height and measurements decide which jobs she can book.
Miss USA victory
- Won Miss Kentucky USA in 2021 and advanced to the national stage (Wikipedia)
- Crowned Miss USA 2021 on November 29, 2021, in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Wikipedia)
- Represented the United States at Miss Universe 2021, held December 12, 2021, in Eilat, Israel, finishing in the Top 10 (Seventeen)
She was 23 when she won, according to the same Seventeen reporting.
The pattern: her pageannyt run was fast and national — state title, Miss USA, Miss Universe Top 10 — all inside roughly one year.
Acting roles
- Appeared in the music video for “Churchill Downs” by Jack Harlowe featuring Drake (IMDb)
- Credit is listed on her IMDb profile alongside her pageannyt and TV-news background (IMDb)
It’s a single high-profile credit rather than a filmography, which explains why “actress” appears in her professional shorthand without a long movie list.
The broader point: her IMDb page is a career aggregator, not a personal statement — use it for dates and credits, not for personal claims.
What is Elle Smith’s nationality?
Elle Smith is American. She was born in Springfield, Ohio, and represented the United States at Miss Universe 2021 (Wikipedia; Seventeen).
- Nationality: United States of America
- Citizenship context: born in Ohio, competed as the U.S. delegate at Miss Universe
The implication: her nationality has never been in dispute — every major profile lists her as American, and the pageant path required a U.S. state title first.
How old is Elle Smith?
Here’s where her bio gets interesting — the two most-cited sources disagree by exactly one day. IMDb lists her birth date as June 20, 1998 (IMDb), while Wikipedia summaries report June 19, 1998.
Using the June 20 date, she turned 27 in 2025 — consistent with Seventeen’s reporting that she was 23 when she won Miss USA in November 2021.
Age calculators will produce two different answers depending on which database you trust — IMDb says June 20, 1998, Wikipedia says June 19. For publishers, that one-day gap is the difference between a clean bio and a correction note.
The trade-off: fans want one “official” birthday, but no single authoritative source settles it. Until Elle Smith confirms a date herself, both dates will keep circulating.
Who is Elle Smith’s partner?
There is no public confirmation from Elle Smith herself about a partner. What exists is reporting: multiple reports, including London’s The Standard, have publicly identified her as the partner of Leah Williamson, an English professional footballer associated with Arsenal and England.
Williamso is an established name in English women’s football, which is part of why the reporting keeps circulating — but the exact start date of the relationship has not been established in available coverage (UrbanMixr).
Pageant fame opened doors in modeling and music, but it also made Smith’s private life public. Fans who want a confirmed relationship status will have to wait for her to say the words.
The catch: “partner” in headlines is stronger than “confirmed.” Neither Smith nor Williamson has made a formal public statement, so bios that call the relationship official go beyond what the sources support.
What is Elle Smith’s ethnicity?
Elle Smith has not made an official public statement about her ethnicity, and none of the available profiles confirm one. Public photos and records suggest white ethnicity, but that’s an inference, not a documented fact.
- Officialy stated ethnicity: none found in available sources
- Inference from public images and records: white ethnicity (unconfirmed)
- Related documented detail: no official biography addresses ethnicity directly
The honest answer is that her public identity is documented around her career — journalist, titleholder, model — not around a formal ethnicity statement. Readers who want a definitive label will have to wait for her to address it herself.
Elle Smith: full career and personal specs
Ten rows, one pattern: nearly every line traces back to either a pageant result or a verified professional credential — the two pillars of her public identity.
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Elle Smith |
| Nationality | American (United States) |
| Birth date | per IMDb; per Wikipedia |
| Birthplace | Springfield, Ohio, USA |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) — The Source Models (agency profile) |
| Measurements | 34-26-37.5 — The Source Models (agency profile) |
| Education | University of Kentucky, class of 2020; broadcast journalism major, political science minor (Seventeen) |
| Pageant title | Miss USA 2021 (Wikipedia) |
| Reported partner | Leah Williamson, per The Standard — not officially confirmed |
| Acting credit | “Churchill Downs” music video, Jack Harlow feat. Drake (IMDb) |
The gap worth noticing: physical stats and pageant results are easy to source, while personal details — ethnicity, relationship status, exact birthday — stay thin. That’s the opposite of what most fan bios imply.
Elle Smith timeline: from Ohio to Miss USA
Five moments, one arc: a Kentucky newsroom, a national crown, a music-video cameo, and a 2026 social-media return.
- — Born in Springfield, Ohio, per IMDb (Wikipedia lists )
- — Won Miss Kentucky USA, then Miss USA 2021, crowned November 29 in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Wikipedia)
- — Represented the United States at Miss Universe 2021 in Eilat, Israel, finishing in the Top 10 (Seventeen)
- — Appeared in the “Churchill Downs” music video by Jack Harlow featuring Drake (IMDb)
- — Returned to TikTok after a hiatus, posting about fitness goals (via Elle Smith’s TikTok)
The through-line is reinvention: local news to national pageant to pop-culture cameo to direct social engagement. The next timestamp on the list is the one worth watching.
What’s confirmed about Elle Smith — and what isn’t
Confirmed facts
- Born in Springfield, Ohio, and educated at Shawnee High School and the University of Kentucky (Seventeen)
- Won Miss USA 2021 and finished in the Top 10 at Miss Universe 2021 (Seventeen; Wikipedia)
- Worked as a multimedia journalist at WHAS11 in Louisville before the pageant (Seventeen’s career profile)
- Appeared in the “Churchill Downs” music video (IMDb)
What’s unclear
- Exact birth date — June 19 vs. June 20, 1998 (Wikipedia vs. IMDb)
- Official relationship status — reports identify Leah Williamson, but no primary confirmation exists (The Standard)
- Relationship start date — not established in available coverage (UrbanMixr)
- Ethnicity — not officially stated; public images suggest white ethnicity
- Whether “model/actress” labels reflect her current professional focus
Why this matters: Elle Smith’s bio gets quoted across social media, fan wikis, and casting profiles. The line between confirmed and unclear isn’t trivia — it’s the difference between a reliable profile and a copied-and-pasted one.
What the sources say
The strongest documented statements about Elle Smith come from three places: her Wikipedia summary, Seventeen’s career profile, and The Standard’s reporting. For her part, Smith returned to TikTok in January 2026 with fitness-focused updates — the closest thing to a first-person statement in her recent history.
“Elle Smith is an American journalist and beauty-pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 2021.”
Wikipedia — encyclopedia summary
“Smith is publicly identified in multiple reports as the partner of English footballer Leah Williamson.”
The Standard — London news outlet
“Smith was 23 when she won Miss USA 2021.”
Seventeen — women’s lifestyle magazine
The takeaway from the sources: the pageant record is solid, the personal details are not. When a bio states her birthday or relationship status as certain, it’s outrunning the cited evidence.
What to take away from Elle Smith’s story
Elle Smith’s story is easy to flatten into a headline — Miss USA 2021, model, music video — but the documented record is more layered: a broadcast journalist who won a national title, competed at Miss Universe, and kept adding credits. The strongest sources disagree on a small detail (her birthday) and stay silent on big ones (ethnicity, relationship confirmation). For anyone writing about her next chapter — fans, editors, casting directors — the rule is simple: quote the pageant records and the TV-news résumé, label the one-day birthday discrepancy, and don’t present an unconfirmed relationship as fact. For fans tracking her return to TikTok, the choice is clear: follow her official accounts for what comes next, or you’ll be reading secondhand versions of her life instead of her own words.
Related reading: Elle Smith: Biography, Height, Age, Nationality, and More · Elle Smith Biography: Miss USA 2021 Winner’s Age & Career
Additional sourcesurbanmixr.uk, urbanmixr.uk, urbanmixr.uk, urbanmixr.uk, urbanmixr.uk
Frequently asked questions
Is Elle Smith married?
There’s no public record of Elle Smith being married. Reports identify English footballer Leah Williamson as her partner, but neither woman has made an official confirmation.
Why did Elle Smith win Miss USA?
Elle Smith won Miss USA 2021 as Kentucky’s representative, crowned November 29, 2021, in Tulsa, Oklahoma (Wikipedia). She was 23, with a broadcast journalism degree and a local-TV news job behind her.
How tall is Elle Smith?
Elle Smith is 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) tall, with measurements of 34-26-37.5, according to The Source Models agency profile.
Does Elle Smith have any siblings?
Available sources don’t document siblings. Her confirmed bio covers education, journalism work, and pageant results, but family details aren’t part of the public record reviewed here.
What is Elle Smith’s Instagram handle?
Her official Instagram and TikTok accounts are the main channels where she posts updates; her January 2026 TikTok return focused on fitness and reconnecting with followers.
What movies has Elle Smith acted in?
Elle Smith’s acting credit is a music video rather than a feature film: she appeared in “Churchill Downs” by Jack Harlow featuring Drake (IMDb).
Where did Elle Smith go to college?
Elle Smith attended the University of Kentucky, graduating in 2020 with a broadcast journalism major and a political science minor (Seventeen).
George Thompson is Senior Reporter at UrbanMixr.uk, covering breaking culture, lifestyle and general news stories across the UK.