Alessandra Ambrosio

Early life

Ambrosio was born in Erechim, Brazil on April 11, 1981. Her parents are Brazilians of Italian, Portuguese and Polish ancestry and own a petrol station. She enrolled at a modelling class at the age of 12, and at the age of 14, she was one of 20 finalists for the 1995 Elite Model Look national competition for Brazil. Ambrosio was always insecure about her large ears, and at the age of 11, she had cosmetic surgery to have her ears pinned back, though two years later she suffered complications. In 2006, she appeared on The Tyra Banks Show, and said that the surgery was a bad experience and has discouraged her from ever getting plastic surgery again.

Modeling

When Ambrosio was 12 years old, she partook in modeling classes, and then began modeling for Dilson Stein at age 15. Competing in Brazil's Elite Model Look competition started her modeling career in earnest. Her first notable modeling job was shooting the cover of Brazilian Elle magazine. Elite passed along some of her Polaroids to Guess which led her booking the Millennium GUESS? campaign. She has since appeared in advertising campaigns for Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein, Oscar de la Renta, Christian Dior, Escada, Fendi, Giorgio Armani, Guess, Emporio Armani, Moschino, Gap, Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy's, Revlon, and the Pirelli Calendar. She has walked the catwalks for designers such as Prada, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Givenchy, Christian Lacroix, Bottega Veneta, Escada, Tommy Hilfiger, Christian Dior, Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, Balmain, Ralph Lauren, Halston, Vivienne Westwood, Giles Deacon, and Oscar de la Renta. She has appeared in numerous international magazine covers, including Cosmopolitan, Elle, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, Ocean Drive, Vogue and was the only model to appear on the cover of Glamour in the United States in 2006.

In 2004, Ambrosio launched her line of swimwear called Alessandra Ambrosio by Sais, a division of Rosa Chá. It sold 10,000 units in its first month on the market. Ambrosio was the face for the UK company Next and starred in their first television campaign in 12 years. On the July 2009 cover of Marie Claire, Ambrosio appeared in a spread with Sacha Baron Cohen to promote Baron Cohen's 2009 film Brüno.

Ambrosio became the face of Brazilian sportswear brand Colcci costarring with Ashton Kutcher in a denim ad. She was ranked No. 5 on Forbes' The World's Top-Earning Models list, with an estimated earnings of $5 million over 2010–2011. In October 2011, Ambrosio became Vogue's blogger, commenting on her wardrobe by posting one photo of herself each day for a month. In August 2012, she appeared in the London 2012 Olympic Closing Ceremony as part of Rio de Janeiro's handover show.

In spring 2014, Ambrosio launched her own fashion and lifestyle brand named Ále by Alessandra in a collaboration with American retailer Cherokee. The line features casual wear to formal attire and is aimed at females between 18 and 35 years old. The apparel line was first shown by Southern California-based retailer Planet Blue. For this brand, Ambrosio used her intellectual property company, Silver Sunrise LLC, which works with Cherokee as its global licensing agent.

Ambrosio appeared in the February 2016 issue of GQ alongside Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ambrosio was chosen by NBC alongside fellow Brazilian model Adriana Lima as the channel's food and culture correspondents for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Victoria's Secret

By 2006, she was selected as the first spokesmodel for the Victoria's Secret "PINK" line In 2005, she walked the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show runway wearing lingerie made entirely out of candy. In the 2008 edition of the Fashion Show, she walked the runway three months after giving birth to her first child, and opened the show the following year in 2009. The 2011 show saw her wearing the heaviest wings (30 lb) ever made for the show while pregnant with her second child. In 2012, Ambrosio was chosen to wear the "Fantasy Bra". The Floral Fantasy Bra, created by London Jewelers, features amethysts, rubies, sapphires and diamonds (including a 20-carat white diamond in the center), all set in rose and yellow gold, according to InStyle. There's also a matching belt adorned with more than 5,200 precious stones. In 2014, she wore the Dream Fantasy Bra, alongside her fellow angel Adriana Lima. Both of the bras cost $2.5 million each.

Television and film appearances

Ambrosio has made several television appearances, notably a cameo as herself on HBO's Entourage; The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn; Late Night with Conan O'Brien; A guest judge on Project Runway Season 2: Team Lingerie and twice on The Tyra Banks Show. She also appeared on America's Next Top Model in the series' 20th cycle.

In 2006, she had a cameo in the box-office hit film Casino Royale, appearing briefly as Tennis Girl #1. Ambrosio guest-starred on the How I Met Your Mother episode "The Yips" on November 26, 2007 with her fellow Victoria's Secret Angels Adriana Lima, Selita Ebanks, Marisa Miller, Miranda Kerr, and Heidi Klum. She also made a cameo appearance during the New Girl episode "Prince".

Ambrosio made her acting debut in the Brazilian telenovela Verdades Secretas, which premiered on Rede Globo on June 8, 2015, playing the role of former top model Samia. She appeared as herself in the 2016 film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

Personal life

Ambrosio has been engaged to businessman Jamie Mazur, founder of RE/DONE jeans, since 2008, and they have two children, Anja Louise (b. 2008) and Noah Phoenix (b. 2012), both born in Florianópolis. Alessandra also holds a very active Facebook page in which she posts personal and professional photos as well as many motivational and inspirational quotes either through captions or through dedicated posts, thus securing over three million fans on the social media site.

Ambrosio serves as an ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.