Claudia Schiffer Biography
Summary
"Claudia Schiffer" (born August 25, 1970) is a German supermodel and actress, who reached the height of her popularity during the 1990s. Schiffer is one of the world's most successful supermodels, appearing on over 500 magazine covers and is thought to be one of the wealthiest German women of her time, with "Forbes" estimating Schiffer to be worth £38 million in 2002.
Background
Claudia Schiffer was born in Rheinberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which is a small town just outside Duisburg. She was born to Gudrun Schiffer and her lawyer father Heinz Schiffer. Her maternal grandparents were killed in allied bombing in World War II. She has two brothers, Stefan and Andreas, and one sister called Ann Carolin.
During her school life, Schiffer commented that she was quite popular but felt socially overshadowed by the other girls in her year, who all acted like stars and were very dominant. She has revealed that because she was so tall, she became very shy and did not want to be noticed. She was also subjected to jealousy by others as she came from a wealthy family that were well-known locally in the area. Schiffer became fluent in French and English as well as in her home language of German.
Schiffer originally wanted to become a lawyer and work in her father's law firm. She later dropped these aspirations when she was spotted in a nightclub in Düsseldorf by Michel Levaton in October 1987 at seventeen, the boss of Metropolitan Model Agency who signed her up to become a model.
Modelling and fashion
After she was spotted as a potential model in a Düsseldorf 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. Schiffer continued to become a world-famous supermodel, becoming instantly recognizable with her blue eyes, blond hair and tall figure.
In the early 1990s she starred in highly publicised Guess? jeans adverts in North America which created essential publicity for Schiffer. Paul Marciano said in E! Forbes Top 15 Supermodel Beauties Who Made Bank, 'Guess name became really much more known around the world because of Claudia'. Soon after appearing in the campaigns, her name was launched worldwide, appearing on five magazine covers in the United States and seven covers around Europe. Her modelling career continued to grow and she was contracted to model for Revlon. She also became deeply involved in modelling for several catalogues and modelled on high profile catwalk shows. Schiffer has done catwalk modelling for Versace, Jil Sander, Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren and Valentino. "Vanity Fair", "Rolling Stone", the "New York Times" and "People" all saw Schiffer as the first model to make their covers. She has also appeared many times on covers of "Vogue", "Harper's Bazaar", "Cosmopolitan" and "Time".
Schiffer has also been the face of Mango, a chain of Spanish clothes stores and Accessorize, where she had her ears pierced especially for her (Autumn/Winter 2006 Accessorize advertising campaign) in 2006. Schiffer still holds a contract with L'Oreal and Ebel watches, and her billboard picture for Kenar has also hung over millions of tourists at Time Square. Since 1990, she has created a swimsuit calendar each year which she stars in and designs herself.
Her career continued to develop when she secured contracts with Pepsi appearing in advertisements promoting the brand, and has also danced with a cartoon version of Mickey Mouse in advertisements promoting Fanta for an estimated $2 million. In a 1998 Citroën advertisement, she earned a reputed £3 million. She appeared nude in the advert, but as she was posed behind the car, only her feet and from her shoulders up were visible. Ironically she did not know how to drive at the time. Karl Lagerfeld recently filmed her for a Dom Perignon campaign, some ten years after her first appearances in Chanel adverts.
Beyond modelling
Schiffer has appeared in a number of films and music videos. Her first appearance in film was in the children's movie "Richie Rich" in 1994 and then starred opposite Dennis Hopper and Matthew Modine in "Blackout". She went on to appear in "Friends & Lovers" and "Black and White" in 1999, "In Pursuit" and "Life Without Dick" in 2001, and then "Love Actually" in a semi-cameo role. Schiffer has made several other cameo appearances in film which include, Ben Stiller's "Zoolander" in 2001. However, she never became as successful as an actress as she did by modelling.
As well as many film appearances, Schiffer has appeared on several chat and television shows such as "Larry King Live", "The Late Show with David Letterman", "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", "Dharma & Greg" and "Arrested Development". She was also in boyband Westlife's music video of Billy Joel's 'Uptown Girl,' as the iconic uptown girl and had a cameo in Bon Jovi's video 'Thank You for Loving Me'.
During her modelling career, she has also released four exercise videos, entitled "Claudia Schiffer's Perfectly Fit", which were successful and reached the bestsellers list. Schiffer has hosted the French Fashion Awards and the World Music Awards in Monaco.
With fellow supermodels Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, and Elle Macpherson, Schiffer was joint owner of a chain of fashionable restaurants called the Fashion Café in 1995. Schiffer remains a prominent figure in German society and helped present and carry the trophy with Pele during opening ceremonies at the 2006 World Cup. She also presented Prince William with a polo trophy in 2002.
Personal life
Schiffer was engaged to the magician David Copperfield for about six years until 1999. They first met at one of Copperfield's stage shows, where he invited her on stage to take part in his 'Flying' illusion, and he then subsequently sawed her in half during a joint appearance on German television. Following the end of her engagement to Copperfield, she met and had a relationship with Tim Jefferies.
On 25 May, 2002, she got married to the film producer Matthew Vaughn. Instead of an engagement ring, Vaughn bought her a tortoise. On her wedding day, many journalists and 200 onlookers gathered to see her in her wedding dress. She was married in St. George's church in the village of Shimpling. The wedding reception was held at Schiffer's Elizabethan mansion.
Schiffer and Vaughn have two children together; son Caspar Matthew, (born 30 January, 2003) and daughter Clementine de Vere Drummond, (born 11 November, 2004). They all now live in London. During spare time, Schiffer enjoys horse riding, painting, playing tennis and skiing.
Schiffer has had two significant problems with harassment in the past. In 2002, an Italian kitchen porter, known as Agostino Pomata, was arrested after making nine visits to Schiffer's £5 million Suffolk mansion near Bury St Edmunds, attempting to see her. Charges against Agostino Pomata were dropped however, as he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. He had believed that the Pope had told him to marry Schiffer. Then later in 2004, Louis Brisette a Canadian man, was accused of harassing Schiffer, again at her mansion in Suffolk. He reportedly called at her mansion three times in total in the hope of seeing Schiffer. He also repeatedly left letters at her home.
She is also currently a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for the United States.
Filmography
Acting
"Ri¢hie Ri¢h" (1994) — Herself as an aerobics instructor
"Blackout" (1997) — Susan
"Black and White" (1999) — Greta
"Friends & Lovers" (1999) — Carla
"Desperate But Not Serious" (1999) — Gigi
"In Pursuit" (2001) — Catherine Wells
"Life Without Dick" (2001) — Mary
"Love Actually" (2003) — Carol
Playing herself
"Noche de tu vida, La" (1993)
"The Magic of David Copperfield: 15 Years of Magic" (1994)
"Prêt-à-Porter" (1994)
"Schönsten Frauen der Welt - Claudia Schiffer, Die" (1995)
"Around Claudia Schiffer" (1995)
"Perfectly Fit" (1996)
"Catwalk" (1996)
"The 68th Annual Academy Awards" (1996)
"Happy Birthday Elizabeth: A Celebration of Life" (1997)
"An Audience with Elton John" (1997)
"1997 VH1 Fashion Awards" (1997)
"Beautopia" (1998)
"The Sound of Claudia Schiffer" (2000)
"Zoolander" (2001)
"666 - Traue keinem, mit dem Du schläfst!" (2002)
"Í skóm drekans" (2002)
Notable TV guest appearances
"Wetten, dass..?" (episode: 'Wetten, dass..? aus Basel' on 2 November 1991)
"De tú a tú" (18 February 1993)
"Scommettiamo che...?" (22 October 1994)
"Mad TV" (6 April 1996)
"Caiga quien caiga" (19 October 1997)
"Futurama" (voice in episode: 'A Head in the Polls' on 12 December 1999)
"Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (13 April 2000)
"Russell Gilbert Live" (17 June 2000)
"The Howard Stern Radio Show" (7 October 2000)
"Wetten, dass..?" (episode: 'Wetten, dass..? aus Braunschweig' on 26 January 2002)
"Dharma & Greg" (episode: 'I Think, Therefore I Am in Trouble' on 19 March 2002)
"Dharma & Greg" (episode: 'This Diamond Ring' on 2 April 2002)
"Arrested Development"
"Wetten, dass..?" (28 February 2004)
"Corazón de..." (19 July 2005)
"Wetten, dass..?" (4 November 2006)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Claudia Schiffer.
