Adriana Lima
Brazilian supermodel
About: In true fairy tale fashion, Brazilian Adriana was discovered at the age of 13 when she was shopping at a local shopping mall. By 15, she had won the 'Ford Supermodel of Brazil' contest and was placed second in the 'Ford Supermodel of the World' competition. She moved to the world's most energetic and fashion-driven city, New York, and was signed to Elite Model Management.
Gisele Bundchen
Brazilian supermodel
About: She's been hailed by ROLLING STONE Magazine as THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD and confirmed her status in December 1999 as the most wanted face in fashion, when she was named VOGUE-VH1's MODEL OF THE YEAR.
Born on the 20th of July, 1980, in Horizontina, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Gisele Caroline Bundchen grew up closely tied to her five sisters.
Heidi Klum
German supermodel
About: In 1992 Heidi won the contest "Model 92" and after finishing school in June 1992 she desided to pursue a career as a model. Her first modeling jobs were in Hamburg, then in Paris and Milan. A year later Heidi Klum moved to Miami and then to New York, where she has lived since October 1993.
Alessandra Ambrosio
Brazilian supermodel
About: When Ambrosio was 12 years old, she enrolled in modeling classes then, began modeling for Dilson Stein at age 15. Winning Brazil's Elite Model Look started her modeling career. Her first big modeling job was the cover of the Brazilian Elle magazine. Elite passed along some of her Polaroids to Guess which led her to do the Millennium GUESS? campaign along with her friend and fellow Brazilian supermodel Ana Beatriz Barros.
Karolina Kurkova
Czech supermodel
About: Born in the town of Decin, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) on February 28th, 1984, Karolina Kurkova had a slight taste of what celebrity would be like, as her father Josef Kurka was a star basketball player. As a child, her height made her relatively awkward and gangly, but that would all change with age.
Tyra Banks
American supermodel
About: Prior to graduating from Immaculate Heart High School in 1991, she wanted to give modeling a try. She applied and was accepted at Loyola Marymount University, that Elite modeling agency gave the 17-year-old, her first modeling job. Afterwards, she had been rejected many times for modeling assignments, which led her to drop out of college so quickly.
Kate Moss
British supermodel
About: Moss's career began when Corinne Day shot black and white photographs of her for British magazine The Face when she was 15, in a photo shoot titled "The Third Summer of Love". After that, Kate was on her way to becoming the latest "It" girl, whose face and body would show up everywhere.
Cindy Crawford
American supermodel
About: Cynthia Ann Crawford was born February 20, 1966, in De Kalb, Illinois. She was discovered by chance by a newspaper photographer, who noticed then 16-year old Cindy at work during her summer job of detasselling corn and took her a picture of her. The photo and the positive feedback surrounding Cindy's photogenic talents were enough to convince her to quit her day job and take up modelling.
Naomi Campbell
British supermodel
About: British born NAOMI CAMPBELL has conquered the fashion industry and achieved iconic status around the world with her incomparable physique and electrifying presence. Since stepping into the limelight over 15 years ago, she has set runways and magazine covers ablaze with a sophisticated, sultry style and singular no-nonsense attitude that together have made her an international celebrity and fashion authority.
Claudia Schiffer
German supermodel
About: After she was spotted as a potential model in a disco at the age of just seventeen, she completed her education by her mother's wishes and then began to work as a model. She flew out to Paris for a trial photo shoot and soon after she appeared in the cover of French ELLE after being well received in Paris. After several other magazine appearances she quickly achieved supermodel status when she was selected by Karl Lagerfeld to become the new face of Chanel.
Laetitia Casta
French supermodel
About: Laetitia was raised in Normandie and Corsica, France, in the middle of an animal-filled forest, Laetitia has a down-home charm that's truly infectious. At the age of fifteen, Laetitia was discovered while vacationing with her family on a beach in Corsica, "the island of beauty", in France.
Elle MacPherson
Australian supermodel
About: Eleanor Gow was born March 29, 1964, in Sydney, Australia. Elle's original plan was to study pre-law at Sydney University, but when the 18-year old, 6-foot beauty was discovered in Aspen, Colorado, she was immediately signed to the Click modeling agency.
Linda Evangelista
Canadian supermodel
About: Evangelista was born to Italian parents and was raised in a working-class, traditional Catholic family in St. Catharines, Ontario. She knew she wanted to become a model when she was 12 years old. Evangelista got into the modeling industry when she was discovered by a talent agent at the 1978 Miss Teen Niagara Contest.
Natalia Vodianova
Russian supermodel
About: Natalia Vodianova is a Russian model. Since bursting into the spotlight in 2001, She has campaigned for Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Euphoria, Gucci and Miss Sixty. Her Cinderella story of going from poverty into modeling glamour has also created great buzz about her.
Eva Herzigova
Czech supermodel
About: Herzigova was born in Litvinov, Czech Republic, and she began her modeling career after winning a modeling beauty contest in Prague in 1989, at the age of sixteen. After arriving in Paris she became a popular supermodel. Her first important appearance was the Miss Wonderbra campaign in 1990s. She was also featured in the Guess? Jeans advertisements and was dubbed the "Marilyn of the 1990s."
Christy Turlington
American supermodel
About: Christy Nicole Turlington is an American supermodel best known for representing Calvin Klein fragrances since 1987. She has also worked on various campaigns for Maybelline Cosmetic and Giorgio Armani, has appeared in several films about the fashion industry and was a co-founder of the now defunct Fashion Cafe.
Carolyn Murphy
American supermodel
About: Murphy was born in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and grew up throughout Northwest Florida, spending most of her childhood in a trailer park there. At the age of 15, she was spotted by Mary Lou Nash, owner and operator of Mary Lou's Models, a modeling agency. Nash saw Murphy's potential and soon she was modeling in local ads and magazines throughout Florida and Alabama.
Amber Valletta
American supermodel
About: Valletta was born in Phoenix, Arizona. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. She attended Booker T. Washington High School. She got her start in the fashion industry when her mother enrolled her in modeling school at the age of fifteen at the Linda Layman Agency. Initially, she did runway work at a local mall on Saturdays. However, her big break came after she cut short her hair and went to Europe.
Bridget Hall
American supermodel
About: She was born on December 12, 1977 in Springdale, Arkansas. At the age of 10, she was modeling in Dallas, Texas where she was living in the suburb of Farmers Branch, Texas, where she briefly attended R. L. Turner High School. Shortly after she moved with her mother Donna Hall to New York City to pursue her modeling career.
Carmen Kass
Estonian supermodel
About: Kass grew up in the Estonian city of Paide. At the age of fourteen, she was 'discovered' in a Tallinn supermarket by an Italian modeling scout. Kass had wanted to compete for the Miss Estonia title, but an offer to fly to Milan, Italy, to start a modeling career seemed like a more glamorous and lucrative option.
Brazilian supermodel
About: In true fairy tale fashion, Brazilian Adriana was discovered at the age of 13 when she was shopping at a local shopping mall. By 15, she had won the 'Ford Supermodel of Brazil' contest and was placed second in the 'Ford Supermodel of the World' competition. She moved to the world's most energetic and fashion-driven city, New York, and was signed to Elite Model Management.
Gisele Bundchen
Brazilian supermodel
About: She's been hailed by ROLLING STONE Magazine as THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD and confirmed her status in December 1999 as the most wanted face in fashion, when she was named VOGUE-VH1's MODEL OF THE YEAR.
Born on the 20th of July, 1980, in Horizontina, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Gisele Caroline Bundchen grew up closely tied to her five sisters.
Heidi Klum
German supermodel
About: In 1992 Heidi won the contest "Model 92" and after finishing school in June 1992 she desided to pursue a career as a model. Her first modeling jobs were in Hamburg, then in Paris and Milan. A year later Heidi Klum moved to Miami and then to New York, where she has lived since October 1993.
Alessandra Ambrosio
Brazilian supermodel
About: When Ambrosio was 12 years old, she enrolled in modeling classes then, began modeling for Dilson Stein at age 15. Winning Brazil's Elite Model Look started her modeling career. Her first big modeling job was the cover of the Brazilian Elle magazine. Elite passed along some of her Polaroids to Guess which led her to do the Millennium GUESS? campaign along with her friend and fellow Brazilian supermodel Ana Beatriz Barros.
Karolina Kurkova
Czech supermodel
About: Born in the town of Decin, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) on February 28th, 1984, Karolina Kurkova had a slight taste of what celebrity would be like, as her father Josef Kurka was a star basketball player. As a child, her height made her relatively awkward and gangly, but that would all change with age.
Tyra Banks
American supermodel
About: Prior to graduating from Immaculate Heart High School in 1991, she wanted to give modeling a try. She applied and was accepted at Loyola Marymount University, that Elite modeling agency gave the 17-year-old, her first modeling job. Afterwards, she had been rejected many times for modeling assignments, which led her to drop out of college so quickly.
Kate Moss
British supermodel
About: Moss's career began when Corinne Day shot black and white photographs of her for British magazine The Face when she was 15, in a photo shoot titled "The Third Summer of Love". After that, Kate was on her way to becoming the latest "It" girl, whose face and body would show up everywhere.
Cindy Crawford
American supermodel
About: Cynthia Ann Crawford was born February 20, 1966, in De Kalb, Illinois. She was discovered by chance by a newspaper photographer, who noticed then 16-year old Cindy at work during her summer job of detasselling corn and took her a picture of her. The photo and the positive feedback surrounding Cindy's photogenic talents were enough to convince her to quit her day job and take up modelling.
Naomi Campbell
British supermodel
About: British born NAOMI CAMPBELL has conquered the fashion industry and achieved iconic status around the world with her incomparable physique and electrifying presence. Since stepping into the limelight over 15 years ago, she has set runways and magazine covers ablaze with a sophisticated, sultry style and singular no-nonsense attitude that together have made her an international celebrity and fashion authority.
Claudia Schiffer
German supermodel
About: After she was spotted as a potential model in a disco at the age of just seventeen, she completed her education by her mother's wishes and then began to work as a model. She flew out to Paris for a trial photo shoot and soon after she appeared in the cover of French ELLE after being well received in Paris. After several other magazine appearances she quickly achieved supermodel status when she was selected by Karl Lagerfeld to become the new face of Chanel.
Laetitia Casta
French supermodel
About: Laetitia was raised in Normandie and Corsica, France, in the middle of an animal-filled forest, Laetitia has a down-home charm that's truly infectious. At the age of fifteen, Laetitia was discovered while vacationing with her family on a beach in Corsica, "the island of beauty", in France.
Elle MacPherson
Australian supermodel
About: Eleanor Gow was born March 29, 1964, in Sydney, Australia. Elle's original plan was to study pre-law at Sydney University, but when the 18-year old, 6-foot beauty was discovered in Aspen, Colorado, she was immediately signed to the Click modeling agency.
Linda Evangelista
Canadian supermodel
About: Evangelista was born to Italian parents and was raised in a working-class, traditional Catholic family in St. Catharines, Ontario. She knew she wanted to become a model when she was 12 years old. Evangelista got into the modeling industry when she was discovered by a talent agent at the 1978 Miss Teen Niagara Contest.
Natalia Vodianova
Russian supermodel
About: Natalia Vodianova is a Russian model. Since bursting into the spotlight in 2001, She has campaigned for Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Euphoria, Gucci and Miss Sixty. Her Cinderella story of going from poverty into modeling glamour has also created great buzz about her.
Eva Herzigova
Czech supermodel
About: Herzigova was born in Litvinov, Czech Republic, and she began her modeling career after winning a modeling beauty contest in Prague in 1989, at the age of sixteen. After arriving in Paris she became a popular supermodel. Her first important appearance was the Miss Wonderbra campaign in 1990s. She was also featured in the Guess? Jeans advertisements and was dubbed the "Marilyn of the 1990s."
Christy Turlington
American supermodel
About: Christy Nicole Turlington is an American supermodel best known for representing Calvin Klein fragrances since 1987. She has also worked on various campaigns for Maybelline Cosmetic and Giorgio Armani, has appeared in several films about the fashion industry and was a co-founder of the now defunct Fashion Cafe.
Carolyn Murphy
American supermodel
About: Murphy was born in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and grew up throughout Northwest Florida, spending most of her childhood in a trailer park there. At the age of 15, she was spotted by Mary Lou Nash, owner and operator of Mary Lou's Models, a modeling agency. Nash saw Murphy's potential and soon she was modeling in local ads and magazines throughout Florida and Alabama.
Amber Valletta
American supermodel
About: Valletta was born in Phoenix, Arizona. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. She attended Booker T. Washington High School. She got her start in the fashion industry when her mother enrolled her in modeling school at the age of fifteen at the Linda Layman Agency. Initially, she did runway work at a local mall on Saturdays. However, her big break came after she cut short her hair and went to Europe.
Bridget Hall
American supermodel
About: She was born on December 12, 1977 in Springdale, Arkansas. At the age of 10, she was modeling in Dallas, Texas where she was living in the suburb of Farmers Branch, Texas, where she briefly attended R. L. Turner High School. Shortly after she moved with her mother Donna Hall to New York City to pursue her modeling career.
Carmen Kass
Estonian supermodel
About: Kass grew up in the Estonian city of Paide. At the age of fourteen, she was 'discovered' in a Tallinn supermarket by an Italian modeling scout. Kass had wanted to compete for the Miss Estonia title, but an offer to fly to Milan, Italy, to start a modeling career seemed like a more glamorous and lucrative option.