Heidi Klum - Models

Summary

"Heidi Klum" (IPA ) (born June 1, 1973) is a German supermodel, actress, TV presenter, fashion designer, television producer and singer from Bergisch Gladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. She is best known as the hostess of "Project Runway" and "Germany's Next Topmodel", and for her modeling work with Victoria's Secret.

Biography

Early life and discovery

Klum was raised by her parents, Günther (a cosmetics company executive) and Erna (a hairdresser) in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, a small city outside of Cologne. In 1991, a friend encouraged Klum to enter the modeling contest "Model '92", the finals of which aired on the German talk show "Gottschalk Late Night". Out of 25,000 contestants, Klum was voted the winner on April 29, 1992 and was offered a modeling contract worth US$300,000. She accepted the contract a few months later after graduating from school and decided not to try for an apprentice position at a fashion design school.

Modeling and acting

Klum has been on the cover of most of the well-known fashion magazines, including "Vogue Magazine", "ELLE" and "Marie Claire". She became widely known after appearing on the cover of the "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue" and for her work with Victoria's Secret. She has been a spokesmodel for McDonald's, Braun, H & M, and Liz Claiborne, among others. She is currently the latest celebrity spokesmodel for Jordache. In addition to modeling, she has appeared in several TV shows, including "Spin City", "Sex and the City", and "Yes, Dear". She had a role as an ill-tempered hair model in the movie "Blow Dry", played a giantess in the movie "Ella Enchanted" and was cast as Ursula Andress in "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers". She also had cameo appearances in "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Perfect Stranger".

In July 2007, having earned an estimated $8 million in the previous 12 months, Klum was named by Forbes as third in the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels.

"Project Runway"

In December 2004, she became the host and judge of the reality show "Project Runway" on the U.S. cable television channel Bravo, in which fashion designers compete for the opportunity to show their line at New York Fashion Week and receive money to launch their own fashion line. She received an Emmy Awards nomination for the show for each of the first three seasons.

Designing and perfume

Klum has designed her own clothing lines (including one for infants) that were featured in the German mail-order catalog 'Otto.' She also has designed shoes for Birkenstock, jewellery for Mouawad, and swimsuits – featured in the 2002 "Sports Illustrated" Swimsuit Issue – that, for a limited time, were available for sale through her personal website. She was one of the designers of the Victoria's Secret lingerie line 'The Body', which was named after the nickname she received following her first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show appearance. Her Mouawad jewelry collection debuted on the cable shopping network QVC on September 14, 2006, and 14 of the 16 styles sold out after only 36 minutes. A second line of her jewellery collection debuted on QVC on April 14, 2007, with similar success.http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/LIVING/704120415/1007/LIVING

She has produced two fragrances, called 'Heidi Klum' and 'Me', which are currently available for sale through her official website.

She was also involved in the development of a namesake rose, the Heidi Klum rose, which is available in Germany.

"Germany's Next Topmodel"

"Germany's Next Topmodel" is a German reality television show which pits contestants against each other in a variety of competitions to determine who will win a modeling contract with IMG. Klum is the host and co-producer of the show along with model Tyra Banks. The first season or 'cycle' of the show was won by Lena Gercke and the second cycle was won by Barbara Meier.

Other

Klum is also an artist and has had several of her paintings appear in various art magazines in the U.S. On September 27, 2002 she dedicated a sculpture she painted called 'Dog with Butterflies' to commemorate the role of rescue dogs in the aftermath of September 11.

In 2004, Klum co-authored "Heidi Klum's Body of Knowledge" with "Elle" magazine editor Alexandra Postman. The book gives Klum's biography as well as her advice on becoming successful. Prior to that, Klum had been an occasional guest columnist for the German television network RTL's website. She has also written an essay for the German newspaper "Die Zeit".

Her other projects have included music and video games. She is featured in the 2004 James Bond video game "Everything or Nothing", where she plays a villain Dr. Katya Nadanova. She has appeared in several music videos, including Jamiroquai's video 'Love Foolosophy' from their album "A Funk Odyssey", and Kelis's 'Young, Fresh N' New,' off her second album "Wanderland".

In November 2006 Klum released her debut single 'Wonderland,' which was written for a series of television advertisements for the German retailer 'Douglas.' Proceeds from the single were given to a children's charity in her hometown of Bergisch Gladbach.http://www.express.de/servlet/Satellite?pagename=XP/index&pageid=1004976768169&rubrik=221&artikelid=1171013976426

Personal life

Heidi began a relationship with musician Seal.http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1039808,00.html Klum and Seal married on May 10, 2005, on a beach in Mexico. They have two children together, both sons: Henry Günther Ademola Dashtu Samuel, born September 12, 2005 in Los Angeles, California and Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo Samuel born November 22, 2006 in Los Angeles.

Klum is also the mother of Flavio Briatore's daughter named Helene 'Leni' Klum, born on May 4, 2004 in New York City, New York.http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,633063,00.html

Heidi Klum's October 25th appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show was more revealing than the supermodel anticipated, surprising TV viewers with her story of how she immediately fell for Seal after seeing his impressive bulge in tight shorts. She told Winfrey: 'I met him in a hotel lobby in New York City and he came in just from the gym and I was sitting there and I was, like, wow.' Klum continued, 'And I pretty much saw everything. The whole package.' Earlier in the week, Klum reiterated that first fateful encounter with the man who would be her husband, telling People Magazine, 'When I saw him, I was like, wow! He is different and so tall and dark and just handsome. I saw the package - and I mean the whole package, literally. I was like, 'That is a man." Klum confirmed that she has 'no regrets' about the revelation.

Filmography

Klum appeared in episodes of "Malcolm in the Middle" (as a toothless hockey player) and "Cursed", and has made several guest appearances as herself in various shows, including "Spin City", "Sex and the City" and "CSI: Miami".