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The following biography
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Free Encyclopedia.”
Gisele Caroline Nonnenmacher Bündchen, (born July
20, 1980 in Três de Maio, near Horizontina, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) is a
Brazilian supermodel and occasional actress.
Biography
Gisele Bündchen is the daughter of Valdir and Vânia
Bündchen, both of German descent, along with five sisters: Raquel, Graziela,
Patricia, Gabriela and Rafaela. Patricia and Gisele are twins, but do not look
the same. Bündchen has mentioned several times that at least one of her sisters
has attempted a modeling career as well. Pictures of her family reveal they
share the same statuesque bone structures, and long, wavy brown hair.
While in school, Bündchen was so thin that her
friends used to call her "Olívia Palito" (Portuguese for Olive Oyl, Popeye's
skinny friend), and Saracura (a kind of long-legged bird). She liked to play
volleyball, and had even thought of becoming a professional for Brazilian team,
Sogipa.
An often told story about the "discovery" of
Bündchen is when, as a schoolgirl, she went to a McDonalds and was eating a Big
Mac when an agent discovered the bronze-haired beauty. In an interview, Bündchen
remarked that she at first did not know what a model was, thinking it was
something perhaps akin to being a hooker.
In 1993, Bündchen, 13 years old, joined the Dilson
Stein's mannequin course to correct her posture, with her sisters Patrícia and
Gabriela, because her mother insisted. The course was for teenagers who wanted
to be models.
****
In May 1994, Stein took 50 girls to São Paulo to
give them a chance to walk in a big city and to let them be evaluated by
Brazilian Elite agents. On August 20, 1993 Bündchen was playing volleyball for
Sogipa, in Porto Alegre. Elite "kidnapped" her and took her to a contest. She
came between the five finalists. Then, she went to São Paulo. She came in second
in the national Elite Look of the Year contest - Claudia Menezes, from Bahia,
was the one in the first place. In the world contest, in Ibiza, Bündchen came in
fourth. While she was easily noticeable for her beauty, she still endured
physical criticsm. One major criticsm she faced from agents was her large and
distinctive nose.
As a teen, Bündchen moved to New York City to begin
her runway debut at Fashion Week, she was so nervous she decided to get a blue
star tattoo on her wrist. The tattoo is very noticeable on the model, but there
seems to be no attempt to cover it up with make-up in photo shoots or runway
shows. After her debut in NYC, she was immediately embraced by the fashion
world.
Bündchen has done ads and runway shows for various
fashion houses including Valentino, Zara, Bvlgari, Tommy Hilfiger, Chloé,
Celine, Versace, Christian Dior, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Victoria's Secret,
and Dolce & Gabbana. She has also appeared on the covers of Allure, Marie
Claire, Vogue USA, Vogue Italia, Harper’s Bazaar, Arena, and Rolling Stone. Her
curvaceous figure prompted Vogue to refer to her body of work as the "return of
the sexy model", since she seems to have marked the end of a trend of "waif"
models such as Kate Moss. In 2000 her annual earnings were reportedly $93
million and she commands between $7000.000 and $500,000 per hour for runway
shows.
Trivia
She has received the "Model of the Year" award and
has been named "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" by Rolling Stone.
She has hosted the VH1 Fashion Awards and appeared
on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
She has a belly button piercing as well as a star
tattoo on her left wrist.
She is well-known for her prominent chest and is
continually hailed as a "curvy, sexy model," when in fact she is still quite
thin, at one time reportedly just 114 pounds (52 kg) at 5'11" (1.80 m) tall.
Former head of Elite Models, John Casablancas, has
had tiffs with Bündchen; he once famously claimed that her infamous breasts were
fake and that she has slept her way to the top.
She treasures her dog, Vida, and broke up with
Leonardo DiCaprio since November 2005. Before DiCaprio, she had been
romantically linked to male model Scott Barnhill, Brazilian tycoon João Paulo
Diniz, Big Joe, Puff Daddy and actor Josh Hartnett.
She endorses several Brazilian brands, notably
including Vivo (a cellular service company) and the Brazilian subsidiary of C&A
(a major retailer). Her brand of flip-flops have sold enormously well in her
native Brazil.
Her other homes include an apartment in Manhattan’s
Tribeca district and a house near Woodstock, NY.
Her debut as an actress came in the 2004 movie
Taxi. The film failed miserably at the box office and at present Bündchen seems
to be entirely focused on her enormously successful modeling career, rather than
pursuing other film roles.
****
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URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gisele_Bundchen
Date Article Copied:
February 1, 2006
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