Tara Elizabeth Conner (born December 18, 1985) is an American actress, model, advocate and beauty queen who was crowned Miss USA 2006 and has also competed in the Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe pageants. Apart from her role as Miss USA, Conner has been employed as a model. She was a featured model on the HDNet series Bikini Destinations in 2004, posing in Lake Tahoe. She has also held the titles Miss Kentucky Teen USA 2002, Miss Kentucky County Fair 2004, and Miss Kentucky USA 2006.
In late 2006, Conner became the center of a public scandal after she was caught drinking underage, using cocaine, and kissing Miss Teen USA Katie Blair at a New York nightclub. She was allowed to retain her title, provided she enter a drug rehabilitation program. Since then Conner has worked as an advocate against drug addiction.
After she was born in Dallas, Texas to Brenda who work in Fruit of the Loom and John and she has one brother Josh (born 1984), Conner's family moved to Russell Springs, Kentucky, when she was six weeks old. Tara Conner stated that she started resorting to drugs at the age of 14, when her parents separated from each other and her grandfather had died. Conner graduated from Russell County High School, in 2004, and at the time of her Miss USA win was studying toward a degree in Business Administration from Somerset Community College. Following her success in the Miss Teen USA pageant Conner was managed by agent Steve Rosenberg for six months and has modeled for companies such as Body Glove.