Natalia Vodianova

Natalia Vodianova
Vodianova at the press-conference in Novosibirsk, Russia, 20 September 2008
Born	�аталь� Вод�нова (1982-02-28) 28 February 1982 Nizhny Novgorod, Soviet Union
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Hair color	Light brown
Eye color	Blue
Measurements	86.5-61-86.5 cm (34-24-34 in)
Weight	115
Dress size	34 EU / 4 US / 6 UK
Manager	DNA Models
Spouse	Justin Portman (m. 2001-present; separated)
Children	3

Natalia Mikhailovna Vodianova (Russian: �аталь� Михайловна Вод�нова, pronunciation Nataľja Mikhajlovna Vodjanova, born 28 February 1982) is a Russian model and philanthropist who now permanently resides in the United Kingdom.

Early life

Born in Gorky, Soviet Union (now Nizhny Novgorod, Russia), Natalia Vodianova grew up in a poor district of the city with her mother and two half sisters, one of whom has cerebral palsy. As a teenager, Vodianova helped her mother sell fruit on the street and later set up her own fruit stand with a friend to help her family out of poverty. Vodianova's father walked out on the family when she was a toddler, and she did not have any further contact with him until after she had become famous.

Career

Modeling

At the age of 15, Vodianova enrolled in a modelling academy. By the age of 17, Vodianova had moved to Paris, and signed with Viva Models.

Vodianova has achieved considerable success as a runway, editorial and advertising campaign model. To date, Vodianova has walked in more than 175 runway shows for U.S. and European based designers' ready-to-wear and haute couture collections, has appeared in editorial spreads in fashion magazines worldwide and has completed advertising campaigns for Guerlain, Givenchy, Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint Laurent, L'Oréal, David Yurman, Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, Versace, Diane von Fürstenberg, Chanel, Guerlain, Etam and others.

Photographed by Steven Meisel, she was presented on the September 2004 cover of American Vogue as one of the "Models of the Moment". As of May 2009, Vodianova has appeared on the cover of British Vogue seven times; the first was the September 2003 issue. She made her first appearance on the cover of the U.S. Vogue in the September 2004 edition alongside eight other models, then appeared as the solo cover subject of the July 2007 edition of the magazine. During this time period, other covers of the American Vogue have all featured non-model celebrities with only three other exceptions: models Linda Evangelista, Liya Kebede and Gisele Bündchen.

Natalia Vodianova for the premiere of her lingerie collection by Etam Lingerie in Paris, France.

In Spring 2009, Vodianova entered into a three-year agreement to be a brand ambassador for the French lingerie company Etam and will design a lingerie collection each season during the term of the agreement. The collections will be marketed under the brand Natalia pour Etam.

Vodianova was ranked 14th in the UK channel Five's 2005 television programme World's Greatest Supermodel. Forbes magazine estimates Vodianova earned $4.5 million (USD) between August 2006 and July 2007, $4.8 million (USD) between May 2007 and April 2008 and $5.5 million (USD) between June 2008 and June 2009, making her the seventh highest earning model worldwide during all three time periods.

In May 2009, Vodianova co-hosted the semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow.

On 12 December 2009, she was designated an ambassador of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, becoming a ‘face’ and key advocate of Russia’s first Winter Games. In 2010, she appeared at the Vancouver Olympic Closing Ceremony within that role.

Acting

In 2001, Vodianova made a brief appearance in Roman Coppola’s film CQ with Billy Zane. In 2010, she portrayed Medusa in the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans. In October 2010, Vodianova landed her first leading acting role in a film adaptation of Albert Cohen's 1968 novel Belle du Seigneur, directed by Glenio Bonder and co-starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers. It is scheduled for release in 2012.

Philanthropy

Vodianova is a founder and the president of the Naked Heart Foundation, a philanthropic organisation that strives to provide a safe and inspiring environment in which to play for every child living in urban Russia. She was inspired to found the charity after visiting Russia with her son Lucas and finding there were no suitable places for children to play. The organisation built its first play park in 2006 in Nizhny Novgorod. It has since built nearly 38 more.

Vodianova also lends her support to a number of philanthropic causes, such as the (Bugaboo)RED campaign, an initiative to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. That same year, Vodianova became an ambassador for Hear the World, a global campaign that seeks to raise awareness of the topic of hearing and hearing loss and to promote good hearing all over the world.

She is also a spokeperson for the Tiger Trade Campaign, an alliance of 38 organisations united under the common aim "to bring back wild tigers by stopping trade in tiger parts and products from all sources." In an interview supporting the campaign, Vodianova said: "I'm proud that Russia, my country, is home to the most magnicifent of animals, the wild Siberian tiger. Today it is up to us to protect the tiger and its home, fewer than 350 Siberian tigers remain in the wild and no more than 3,400 tigers survive anywhere in the world. Unless we act now we will see the extinction of the wild tiger within our lifetime."

In honour of her philanthropic achievements, Harper's Bazaar awarded Vodianova the award for Inspiration of the Year in November 2010.

Personal life

Vodianova met Justin Portman (b. 1969), half-brother of the 10th Viscount Portman, a British property heir, former artist and chess organizer at a Paris dinner in 2001. They married in November 2001 when she was 8 months pregnant. In September 2002, over nine months after registering the marriage in the UK, they had a wedding ceremony in St. Petersburg, where Vodianova wore a dress designed by Tom Ford. The couple have three children: sons Lucas Alexander (born 22 December 2001) and Viktor (born 13 September 2007), and daughter Neva (born 24 March 2006). Viktor is named after Vodianova's grandfather, who had helped raise her after her father's departure. Neva is named after the Russian river Neva.

Separated from February 2010, Vodianova and Portman announced their final separation in June 2011. She is currently in a relationship with Antoine Arnault, son of businessman Bernard Arnault and the head of communications for luxury brand Louis Vuitton.

See also

• List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters

External links

• Natalia Vodianova at the Fashion Model Directory
• Natalia Vodianova at the Internet Movie Database
• Profile at AskMen.com
• Naked Heart Foundation

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović	Eurovision Song Contest presenter (Semi-finals, with Andrey Malakhov) 2009	Succeeded by Nadia Hasnaoui, Haddy Jatou N'jie and Erik Solbakken