ADRIANA LIMA

'Adriana Francesca Lima' (born June 12 1981) is a Brazilian supermodel. She was dubbed "The World's Most Voluptuous Virgin" by US ''GQ'' magazine. Lima is best known for her modeling work with Victoria's Secret and Maybelline.

Contents

Early life and family

Modeling career

Personal life

Lima in the media

Charity

References

External links

Early life and family

Lima was born in the northeastern coastal town of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil on June 12, 1981^[2] and is an only child to parents Nelson Torres and Maria da Graça Lima, a social worker. She has stated that she is of African, Indian and Swiss descent.^[3]
When she was 6 months old, her father walked out on her and her mother.^[4] She has since been distanced from him. However, recently, she has been making attempts to reconcile with her estranged father.^[5]

Modeling career

Lima was discovered while shopping at a local mall at the age of 13. When Lima was 15 years old, she entered and finished in first place in Brazil's Ford Supermodel of the World Search. She subsequently entered the 1996 Ford Supermodel of the World contest and finished second place.^[6] Three years later, she moved to New York City, and signed with Elite Model Management. Lima’s modeling portfolio began to expand exponentially, appearing in numerous international editions of ''Vogue'' and ''Marie Claire''. As for fashion shows, she has walked the catwalks for big-name designers such as Vera Wang, Christian Lacroix, Emanuel Ungaro, Giorgio Armani, Fendi, Ralph Lauren, Valentino, among others. Lima then became a GUESS? girl appearing on GUESS?' Fall 2000 ad campaign. She also appeared in the book 'A second decade of Guess? Images'.^[7]
In 2001, Lima starred in BMW short film, ''The Follow'' alongside actors Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, and Forest Whitaker. The film was directed by Hong Kong film director and internationally renowned auteur Wong Kar-Wai.^[8]
Lima continued to build upon her entry, doing more print work for Maybelline, bebe, Mossimo, BCBG and gracing the cover and editorials of more high fashion magazines such as ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''ELLE'', ''Vogue'', ''GQ'', to name a few. Her April 2006 GQ cover was the highest-selling issue of the year. Her other notable works include the well-famed Pirelli Calendar 2005 and the face of Italy’s big cell phone carrier Telecom Italia Mobile where she became known as the "Catherine Zeta-Jones of Italy."
Lima is probably best known for her work with Victoria's Secret. She first graced the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 1999 and has appeared on subsequent shows ever since. Her most notable walk down the runway was in 2003, where she was the show opener. She is currently a contract 'Angel' and spokesperson for the brand.
Lima is also a spokesperson for cosmetic giant Maybelline New York. She is the world's fourth highest paid supermodel as of 2007.^[9][10][11]

Personal life

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Lima is fluent in three languages—Portuguese, Spanish and English. In her free time, she loves reading a novel by her favorite author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.^[12]
Lima has admitted that she was shy around boys when she was younger. She got her first kiss at 17 years old.[3]accessed 2007-06-23. In an interview with ''GQ'' April 2006 issue, Lima told the magazine that she is a virgin. “Sex is for after marriage," she says. "They have to respect that this is my choice. If there's no respect, that means they don't want me."^[13]
Despite reports, Lima denied ever being engaged to rocker Lenny Kravitz^[14] and said that she and Kravitz are just friends.^[15] She has also been romantically linked to other celebrities in the past, including Major League Baseball player Derek Jeter^[16] and Prince Wenzeslaus of Liechtenstein.^[17]

Lima in the media

Since her rise to fame, Lima is often cited by popular media as one of the world's sexiest women. She ranked 7th on FHM 100 Sexiest Women 2007^[18] and was chosen as one of People Magazine's annual 100 Most Beautiful People in the World, in May 2007.^[19] On June 13, 2007, she was awarded as "Hottest Girl on the Planet" at the first Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards but the category was not mentioned in the actual show.^[20] Lima was also voted on the Maxim Hot 100 2007 as number 53. She was voted as the Most Desirable Woman in 2005 by visitors of the largest men's lifestyle website, Askmen.com (she placed 4th in 2006 and also 4th in 2007).

Charity

Lima does charitable work helping with an orphanage, "Caminhos da Luz" (Ways of Light), located in her hometown. She helps with construction to expand the orphanage, and buys clothes for poor children in Salvador, Bahia.

References

1. "DNA Model ManagementRetrieved on 2007-06-15.
2. Adriana Lima profile at Celebrina.com Retrieved on 2007-07-15.
3. Lima stated, "I have like a.... kind of... a mix of African, Indian and Swiss." at 4.00accessed May 22, 2007
4. [1]accessed 2007-06-23.
5. Lima tries to reconcile with her fatheraccessed 2007-06-23.
6. Adriana Lima biography, Maybelline, accessed August 28, 2005
7. Adriana Lima ProfileFMD. Accessed 2007-06-23.
8. AskMenaccessed 2007-06-19.
9. Forbes Top Fifteen ModelsForbes. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
10. "Adriana Lima, Forbes Top Celebrities", Forbes. Retrieved on 2007-05-21.
11. Forbes Top Fifteen Modelshttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/16/wforbes116.xml. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
12. [2]accessed 2007-06-23.
13. Adriana Lima: Our favorite... virgin?", Style.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-21
14. [4]
15. Lima denying her engagement to Kravitzaccessed 2007-07-03.
16. .Adriana Lima The World's Most Voluptous Virgin
17. Top 100 Celebrities 2006Forbes.July 26, 2007.
18. "#7 Adriana Lima and #6 Jessica Biel - 100 Sexiest Women 2007", ''FHM''. Retrieved on 2007-05-21.
19. "The Models of Victoria's Secret", ''People''. Retrieved on 2007-05-21.
20. Spike TV accessed 2007-06-18.

External links

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