ALESSANDRA AMBROSIO
Alessandra Corinne Ambrosio was born April 11, 1981 in Erechim, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Her parents, gas station owners, were of Polish and Italian descent. Ambrosio was just eight years old when she decided that she wanted to be a model, after seeing a picture of top cover girl Karen Molder in a magazine: “I wanted to be like her”, she recalls. She enrolled at a modeling class at the age of 12 and at the age of 14 she was one of 20 finalists for an elite modeling competition in Brazil. Ambrosio was always insecure about her large ears and at eleven had cosmetic surgery to get her ears pinned back, but two years later she had complications. In 2006 on The Tyra Banks Show, Alessandra admitted that the surgery was a bad experience and she would never have plastic surgery.
She attended modeling classes, and then began modeling for Dilson Stein at age 15. Winning Brazil’s Elite Model Look started her modeling career in earnest. Alessandra’s first modeling job was the cover of Brazilian Elle magazine. Elite passed along some of her photos to GUESS and she got to work for the Millennium GUESS? Campaign along with friend and fellow Brazilian Ana Beatriz Burros. She has since worked with such brands as Revlon, Christian Dior, Giorgio Armani, Rolex, Oscar de la Renta, Gucci, Escada, Loewe, Rocco Barocco, Moschino, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, as well as the Pirelli Calendar. She has walked the catwalks for designers such as Prada, Laura Biagiotti, Christian Lacroix, Shiatzy Chen, Byblos, Fendi, Issey Miyake, Kenzo, Christian Dior, Nicole Miller, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, Vivienne Westwood, and Oscar de la Renta. She has graced over 50 international magazine covers, including Cosmopolitan, Elle, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Ocean Drive, Vogue and the only model to appear on the cover of Glamor in the United States in 2006. In 2004, Ambrosio launched her line of swimwear called Alessandra Ambrosio by Sais, a division of Rosa Cha. It sold 10,000 units in only its first month on the market.
Ambrosio loves surfing, seeing bands, drinking Catharina and eating chocolates, which she admits to indulging in every day. But Alessandra is very conscious of her body and works out with her Brazilian trainer doing the Brazilian Butt Lift .Ambrosio’s best friend is fellow Brazilian model Ana Beatriz Barros. When Ambrosio first came to New York, Gisele Bundchen lent her apartment for two weeks and Adriana Lima helped her translate English. She described her typical week as jet setting from one country to another for photo shoots and in between she has some phone interviews. She still visits her family in Brazil regularly and calls ere him, Brazil her favorite place in the world and having traveled the world has not yet convinced her otherwise.
