Natalia Vodianova

Natalia Vodianova
Birth name	�аталь� Вод�нова
Date of birth	28 February 1982 (1982-02-28) (age 27)1
Place of birth	Gorky, Russian SSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1â�„2 in)2
Hair colour	Light brown2
Eye colour	Blue3
Measurements	(US) 33-23-333; (EU) 83-62-862
Dress size	(US) 4 ; (EU) 344
Shoe size	(US) 10 ; 3(EU) 402
Spouse(s)	The Hon. Justin Trevor Berkeley Portman

Natalia Vodianova (Russian: Ð�атальÑ� ВодÑ�нова, born 28 February 1982) is a Russian-born model, actress and philanthropist who now permanently resides in the United Kingdom.⁵

Biography

Early life

Born in Gorky, USSR (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.⁵

Career

At age 15, Vodianova enrolled in a modelling academy, was told she would need to learn English to succeed, and mastered the language in three months.⁶ By age 17, Vodianova had moved to Paris, France and signed with Viva Model Management Paris.⁶

Vodianova has achieved considerable success as a runway, editorial and advertising campaign model. To date, Vodianova has walked in more 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 Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton, L'Oréal, David Yurman, Marc Jacobs, Miss Sixty, Pepe Jeans, Diane von Fürstenberg, Chanel and others.⁷

As of May 2009, Vodianova has appeared on the cover of British Vogue seven times; the first was the September 2003 issue.⁸ 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.⁹ During this time period, other covers of the American Vogue have all featured non-model celebrities with only two other exceptions: models Linda Evangelista and Liya Kebede.

As an actress, Vodianova appears in Roman Coppola's 2001 film CQ.¹⁰ In September 2008, Vodianova stated that she was not interested in filmmaking because of her three children;¹¹ however, she appears in director Alexander Kott's 2009 film Probka.¹⁰

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.¹²

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.¹³¹⁴¹⁵

In May 2009, Vodianova co-hosted the semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow.¹⁶

Personal life

Vodianova's father walked out on the family when Natalia was a toddler, and she did not have any further contact with him until after she had become famous.¹⁷¹⁸

In November 2001, Vodianova married The Honourable Justin Trevor Berkeley Portman, a British real estate heir and half-brother of the 10th Viscount Portman.¹⁹ In September 2002, over nine months after registering the marriage in the UK, they had a wedding ceremony in St. Petersburg.²⁰ The couple have three children: Lucas Alexander, a son born on 22 December 2001, Neva, a daughter born on 24 March 2006, and Viktor, a son born on 13 September 2007.¹ Neva is named after the Russian river Neva²¹ and Viktor is named after Natalia's grandfather, who had helped raise her after her father's departure.²²

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.⁵²³²⁴ 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.¹⁷

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Natalia Vodianova

• Natalia Vodianova at Fashion Model Directory
• Natalia Vodianova at the Internet Movie Database
• Profile at Viva Model Management Paris
• Profile at Why Not Model Management Milano
• Profile at DNA Model Management New York
• Profile at AskMen.com
• Natalia pour Etam
• Naked Heart Foundation

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia