Adriana Lima

Biography:

Adriana Francesca Lima (born June 12, 1981) is a Brazilian model best known as a Victoria's Secret Angel since 2000 and a spokesmodel for Maybelline cosmetics from 2003 to 2009. At age 15, Lima finished first place in Ford's "Supermodel of Brazil" competition and took second place the following year in the Ford "Supermodel of the World" competition before signing with Elite Model Management in New York City.

Career

Modeling

Lima never thought about being a model, although she had won many beauty pageants in elementary school. However, she had a friend at school who wanted to enter a modeling contest and didn't want to enter alone, so Lima entered with her. Both sent in pictures, and the contest sponsor soon asked Lima to come out for the competition. Soon after, at the age of 15, she entered and finished in first place in Ford's "Supermodel of Brazil" model search. She subsequently entered the 1996 Ford "Supermodel of the World" contest and finished in second place. Three years later, Lima moved to New York City and signed with Elite Model Management. After acquiring representation, Lima's modeling portfolio quickly began to expand, and she appeared in numerous international editions of Vogue and Marie Claire. As a runway model, she has walked the catwalks for designers such as Vera Wang, Christian Lacroix, Emanuel Ungaro, Giorgio Armani, Fendi, Ralph Lauren and Valentino, among others. Lima became a GUESS? girl in 2000, appearing in that year's fall ad campaign. She also appeared in the book A Second Decade of Guess? Images.

Lima continued to build upon her portfolio, doing more print work for Maybelline, for whom she worked as a spokesmodel from 2003 until 2009, the same year she appeared in the company's first calendar, a limited edition run also featuring Kemp Muhl, Jessica White, Julia Stegner, and Anna Wang. Lima has also worked for notable fashion brands bebe, Mossimo, Armani, Bulgari, De Beers, FCUK, Intimissimi, Keds, Swatch, Versace, and BCBG. She also appeared on the covers and in the editorials of other fashion magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, ELLE, GQ, Arena, Cosmopolitan, and Esquire. Her April 2006 GQ cover was the highest-selling issue that magazine for the year, while her April 2008 cover brought a record number of hits to the magazine's website. She also appeared in the 2005 Pirelli Calendar and became the face of Italy's cell phone carrier, Telecom Italia Mobile, a move that earned her the nickname, "the Catherine Zeta-Jones of Italy."

In 2006, São Paulo Fashion Week released a calendar featuring twenty-five Brazilian models, including Lima. The calendar was accompanied by a movie containing interviews with the models, which was broadcasted at GNT in Brazil and then hit the shelves as a DVD.

In February 2008, she was featured on the cover of Esquire, re-creating the classic 1966 Angie Dickinson cover on Esquire's 75th anniversary along with fellow Victoria's Secret Angels Alessandra Ambrosio, Karolina Kurkova, Izabel Goulart and Selita Ebanks. She appeared only in shoes, diamonds and gloves for the November 2007 issue of Vanity Fair celebrating 20 years of supermodels with her fellow Angels. In February 2008, she was chosen to be the face of Mexico's Liverpool department store chain and launched the partnership with a press conference, runway show, and summer campaign. Lima returned to the high fashion runway in 2009, walking for Givenchy. That same year, after visiting Turkey, Lima signed a contract with Doritos to appear in print campaigns and commercials which began airing in Turkey in April. She is also one of the faces of Givenchy for the Fall/Winter 2009 season, alongside Mariacarla Boscono and Iris Strubegger

In 2006, Lima ranked as the fifth highest paid supermodel. In 2007 and 2008, she ranked as the world's fourth highest paid supermodel by Forbes Magazine.

Victoria's Secret

Lima is probably best known for her work with Victoria's Secret. Her first fashion show for the company came in 1999, and since being contracted as an Angel in 2000, she has appeared on subsequent shows ever since, opening the show in 2003, 2007, and 2008, in which she also closed the opening segment. Lima has appeared on several television ads for the brand, including the praised and criticized "Angel in Venice" commercial of 2003 with Bob Dylan and her solo Victoria's Secret's Super Bowl XLII ad, the single most-seen ad of the game, watched by 103.7 million viewers. 2008 continued for Lima with hosting the What Is Sexy? program for the E! Entertainment Network and a July tour for the BioFit Uplift Bra launch, with stops in Long Island, Boston, and Miami Beach. She was also featured in November's Miracle Bra relaunch. Topping the year off, Lima wore the "Fantasy Bra" for the 2008 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. In 2009, Lima launched the company's new makeup line, "Christian Siriano for VS Makeup."

Acting

Lima's first acting role was the wife, alongside Mickey Rourke and Forest Whitaker, in The Follow (2001), a short film in BMW's series The Hire, starring Clive Owen. She also appeared with her fellow Angels in a guest spot playing herself in the series How I Met Your Mother in November 2007.

In 2008, Lima appeared on the American television series Ugly Betty, where she played herself and made friends with the series' title character, played by America Ferrera. According to her publicist, Liza Anderson, "Adriana has always been a huge fan of Ugly Betty and is thrilled for the opportunity to make a guest star appearance."

Reception

Since her rise to fame, Lima is often cited by popular media as one of the world's sexiest women. Lima was listed in the 2005 Forbes' edition of The World's Best-Paid Celebrities Under 25. Also, she ranked No.99th in the 2006 Forbes' edition of The Celebrity 100 (Forbes' Highest Paid and Powerful Celebrities in the World) Lima was chosen to be a part of People magazine's 100 most beautiful people in the world list, sharing that space with the Angels, with whom she also received a star on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame" prior to the 2007 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. That same year, she ranked 7th on FHM's "100 Sexiest Women 2007" list and was awarded as the "Hottest Girl on the Planet" at the first Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards, although the category was not mentioned in the actual broadcast. Lima was also voted on the Maxim "Hot 100" 2007 at the #53 spot. She was voted #1 as the Most Desirable Woman in 2005 by visitors of the men's lifestyle website, Askmen.com (she placed 4th in 2006 and 2007, 10th in 2008, and 19th in 2009). Lima is also listed in the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest model on Forbes' Celebrity 100 List.[citation needed] As of November 2008, Models.com featured her at No.1 on the list of the Sexiest Models today. In 2009, she was voted sixth in "FHM's Sexiest Women In The World"

Public image

Personal life

Victoria's Secret Angels Adriana Lima (left), Marisa Miller and Selita Ebanks ride in the Guantanamo Bay Christmas Parade Dec. 1, 2007

In addition to her native Portuguese, Lima speaks English, French, and a bit of Italian. Lima was shy around boys when she was younger, not receiving her first kiss until she was 17 years old. Afterward, the boy went directly to her mother to ask if he could marry her. She is a devout Catholic who attends church every Sunday. In April 2006, she told GQ that she was a virgin. "Sex is for after marriage," she explained. "They [men] have to respect that this is my choice. If there's no respect, that means they don't want me." When she was younger, she studied to become a nun. Staying true to her religious roots, she is known for taking a Bible backstage to read.

She has been romantically linked to musician/singer Lenny Kravitz, Prince Wenzeslaus of Liechtenstein, and Denny of Timbalada. In 2009 she married Serbian basketball player Marko Jarić; they wed in a private civil ceremony in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Valentines Day. The couple originally planned on a large wedding in Salvador in June 2009, but the couple decided to opt for two weddings in each of their hometowns, both are scheduled to take place at the end of 2009.

Lima and Jarić are reportedly expecting their first child together in the Fall/Winter of 2009. Lima's representative told People magazine: "Adriana and Marko are overjoyed that they are expecting their first child together and are excited to share the happy news and start their family together." She has also recently applied for Serbian citizenship in order to promote a positive image of Serbia abroad.

Charity

Lima does charitable work helping with an orphanage, "Caminhos da Luz" (Ways of Light), located in her hometown. She helps with construction to expand the orphanage, and buys clothes for poor children in Salvador, Bahia. She appeared on Var mısın? Yok musun?, the Turkish version of Deal or No Deal, where her prize money went to a hospital in Istanbul for children fighting leukemia .