Vera Jordanova

Early life

Jordanova was born in Helsinki, Finland, to Bulgarian musicians. She is fluent in Bulgarian, Finnish and English and speaks some Spanish, French and Russian. Jordanova's parents relocated the family to Finland when Vera was a teen. She studied several languages at a high school that specialized in language instruction before a modeling scout spotted her and helped launch her career as a model. Shortly after she moved to Finland, she was discovered by the premiere Finnish modeling agency Paparazzi and began to appear in national campaigns, and on magazine covers. From there, Vera went on to shoot a campaign for cosmetic giant Clarins, with renowned photographer Gilles Bensimon. Vera spent the next ten years living and working in Milan, Paris, Hamburg, Cape Town, Barcelona, Los Angeles and New York, where she still lives.

Career

On the heels of her discovery, Jordanova appeared on several Finnish magazine covers, which led to more work outside Finland. International campaigns Jordanova appeared in include Felina Lingerie, Bacardi Lime, and Clarins, shot by photographer Gilles Bensimon. Jordanova was featured in the 2006 Maxim calendar and has appeared in FHM and the Czech Republic's June 2007 edition of Esquire.

At this time, Jordanova started acting in Finland, where she appeared in a few Finnish TV series, such as Isänmaan Toivot. Her debut in American cinema was in Eli Roth's horror sequel Hostel II, playing the part of Axelle, a mysterious woman who works for Elite Hunting to lure tourists into the Slovakian "death factory" for worldwide clientele of torture aficionados.

In 2014 Vera published a memoir cookbook Don’t Miss a Bite: Stories and Flavors from around the World (WSOY). The book, which was first published in Finland, explores food, culture and identity in the form of 100 recipes, short biographical stories and Vera’s own drawings and photography.

Publications