Queen of all media
A former Miss USA from Methuen is starting to make MTV her domain
Ever since Susie Castillo won the Miss USA contest in 2003, her life has been a nonstop show.
There were the Pantene hair commercials in Argentina and the Honda ads in Japan. There were soldiers in South Korea to entertain, an AIDS walk in Miami to lead, and a Miss Universe competition in Panama to try to win.
Now, her schedule is even more hectic, thanks to her newest boss, MTV.
The former beauty queen has parlayed her crown into a full-time gig as the cable network's newest VJ. These days find her racking up frequent-flier miles as a once-a-week host of ''
This summer, she will also spend time at MTV's Beach House in Las Vegas, where she will introduce more videos as part of TRL and interview teen and 20-something sunbathers lounging in the Hard Rock Hotel pool area.
Her high-style living is a long way from Methuen, where she grew up watching ''Yo! MTV Raps" and the antics of ''Downtown" Julie Brown on the music channel.
''This is the best job in the world," she said recently in a phone interview while taking a break from taping at MTV's LA studios. ''Music has always been a huge part of my life, and it all started with my mom playing her salsa and merengue music in the house while my sister and I would do our Saturday-morning chores," she adds. ''MTV offered me an opportunity I couldn't say no to."
The aspiring actor joined MTV's ranks in January after producers auditioned her and other hopefuls for one of the coveted VJ spots. Castillo, who comes off chatty and sweet, won them over immediately with her telegenic charm.
''She was by far and away the strongest candidate. She is very real," says Tony Dibari, vice president of MTV production. ''She is very comfortable in front of the camera. She's got great energy about her and really good knowledge about music. She kind of jumps out off the screen. She has come so far in such a short period of time."
No matter how hectic her schedule has become, the curly-haired Puerto Rican/Dominican hasn't forgotten her Bay State roots. She still finds time to dash back to Lawrence for her mother's tostones (plantains) and bistec (steak). Last month, Castillo came home for a weekend and hosted the Sports For Life cancer fund-raiser at the hospital where she was born -- Caritas Holy Family Hospital in Methuen.
Castillo, 25, credits her success to her ''Mami," Carmen Cintron, who reared Castillo and her two sisters as a single parent. Cintron moved to Methuen in 1974 from her native Puerto Rico and depended on welfare to make ends meet. When the girls reached school age, Cintron got off welfare and juggled cleaning jobs at a hospital and in private homes in their low-income neighborhood. She still cleans the Brooks School in North Andover.
Watching her mother struggle made Castillo appreciate the benefits of a good education and the importance of being bicultural. Castillo speaks English and Spanish fluently.
Like many of her childhood friends, she spoke Spanish at home and English in school. Salsa and merengue and MTV were part of the soundtrack of her home life. Castillo listened to salsa artist Luis Enrique as much as the Bangles and New Kids on the Block on MTV. Her Puerto Rican background and Americanized upbringing enriched her, she says.
''[Mom] would always tell my two sisters and I that she wanted things for us she didn't have," says Castillo. ''We worked hard to make ourselves proud. It's not a bad dream for her to have and for us to follow."
While seeing some of her neighborhood friends drop out of school or get pregnant as teenagers, Castillo chose a different path. She dreamed of becoming a model and at age 14 began striking a pose, appearing in an antismoking commercial for the American Cancer Society and magazine ads, including Teen.
''When I was growing up, it was a low-income community, and there were not a lot of opportunities," says Castillo, who rearranged the couches and chairs in her home's hallway to practice her runway struts. ''Not a lot of them were going to college. A lot of my friends were pregnant."
Castillo went on to graduate from Methuen High, and then Endicott College in Beverly with a degree in interior design four years ago. She and her sisters are the first generation in her family to attend college.
But Castillo didn't stop there. She won Miss Teen Massachusetts and then Miss Massachusetts. She worked as an office assistant in a country club before capturing Miss USA in 2003, becoming the third Latina to hold that title.
And just what happened with that tiara that came with it?
''I own it," says Castillo, who also came away with a $20,000 wardrobe and a $45,000 scholarship to the School of Film and Television in New York. ''They couldn't take it away from me."
The year she won, she went on to become one of 15 finalists for Miss Universe in Panama, where she colorfully sported a Wonder Woman outfit for the pageant's country-of-origin segment. As Miss USA, she became an advocate for Latina health and championed breast and ovarian cancer awareness and reached out to cancer survivors.
''Being Latina and speaking Spanish fluently, I was able to educate the Spanish community," she says. ''Being Miss USA was like being a peer leader on a grander scale," especially to young Latinas in Lawrence, where her family now lives. ''I told them, 'I am from here and I did this. You can do whatever you want to do.' "
Her mother still gushes with pride when she talks about her daughter.
''I would have never imagined my daughter was going to be where she is now," says Cintron, in her native Spanish. On a recent Saturday, as she vacuumed in the recreation area of the Brooks School, she tuned into MTV to watch her daughter introduce videos by Mariah Carey and 50 Cent. Students at the school often tell Cintron about catching her daughter on TRL. ''A lot of people here in Lawrence are very proud of her," Cintron says.
Between her new job and her fiance, Matthew Leslie, who proposed to her last year on the former ''On-Air With Ryan Seacrest" show, Castillo is living it up.
She's aware that most MTV VJs have short life spans on the network. Remember Martha Quinn? Or Daisy Fuentes? But she hopes eventually to parlay her MTV crown into a successful acting career and perhaps star in a sitcom.
''There will be life after MTV," she says, referring to the success of former TRL host Carson Daly, who now hosts his own late-night show on NBC. She hopes to follow in his tracks.
''It's a great opportunity," she says of MTV. ''I am hoping good things come from it."
Johnny Diaz can be reached at jodiaz@globe.com. 
