Maria Poonlertlarp is a Thai-Swedish beauty pageant titleholder, model, singer and actress. She was crowned Miss Universe Thailand 2017. She later represented Thailand at the Miss Universe 2017 competition, finishing as a top 5. She was born in Bangkok to a Swedish father, Göran Ehren, who is an electrical engineer, and a Thai Chinese mother, Chanoksuang Poonlertlarp, who is a former teacher at the American TESOL Institute. At the age of two, she and her family moved to Hanoi, Vietnam and at seven, she returned to Bangkok. When she was 14, she began to train as a model with Elle Thailand. In August 2016, she started her career in modeling and posed on Beauty cover for Vogue Thailand. In 2018, she became the guest star in the 4th episode of Asia's Next Top Model (season 6). In February 2019, she became a mentor of The Face Thailand (season 5) with Toni Rakkaen, Virahya Pattarachokchai and Bank Anusith. In addition, she is a volunteer who teaches English at Duang Prateep, a non-profit foundation sponsored by the Thai royal family for children in Thailand. She graduated with a bachelor's degree from Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands, she later attended Stockholm Business School for her master's degree within Stockholm University, receiving her degree in International Business Commerce. She can speak Chinese, English, Swedish and Thai. In 2020, she expressed her support for the protesters of 2020 Thai protests.
