Birth Date: July 20, 1980
Height: 5′ 10″
Measurements: 34-24-34
Occupation: Model

Bundchen was born in Três de Maio, near Horizontina, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She is the daughter of Valdir and Vânia Bundchen, both of German descent, along with five sisters: Raquel, Graziela, Patrícia, Gabriela and Rafaela. Patricia and Gisele are fraternal twins.

An often told story about the “discovery” of Bundchen is when, as a schoolgirl, she went to a McDonalds and was eating a Big Mac when an agent discovered the bronze-haired beauty. In an interview, Bundchen remarked that she at first did not know what a model was, thinking it was something perhaps akin to being a hooker.

In 1993, Bundchen, 13 years old, joined the Dilson Stein’s mannequin course to correct her posture, with her sisters Patrícia and Gabriela, because her mother insisted. The course was for teenagers who wanted to be models.

In May 1994, Stein took 50 girls to São Paulo to give them a chance to walk in a big city and to let them be evaluated by Brazilian Elite agents. On August 20, 1993 Bundchen was playing volleyball for Sogipa, in Porto Alegre. Elite “kidnapped” her and took her to a contest. She came between the five finalists. Then, she went to São Paulo. She came in second in the national Elite Look of the Year contest. In the world contest, in Ibiza, Bundchen came in fourth.

As a teen, Bundchen moved to New York City to begin her runway debut at Fashion Week. She was so nervous she decided to get a blue star tattoo on her wrist. The star tattoo is very noticeable on the model, but there seems to be no attempt to cover it up with make-up in photo shoots or runway shows. After her debut in NYC, she was immediately embraced by the fashion world.

Bundchen has done ads and runway shows for various fashion houses including Valentino, Zara, Bvlgari, Tommy Hilfiger, Chloé, Celine, Versace, Christian Dior, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Victoria’s Secret, Dolce & Gabbana, and Louis Vuitton. She has also appeared on the covers of Allure, Marie Claire, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Arena, and Rolling Stone. Her curvaceous figure prompted Vogue to refer to her body of work as the “return of the sexy model”, since she seems to have marked the end of a trend of “waif” models such as Kate Moss.

Since being discovered the supermodel has been a force to be reckoned with. She has multi-million contracts with Victoria’s Secret, Ebel, and St. John. In 2006 alone she had 20 contracts and earned $30 million dollars.

Bundchen is rumored to be the face of an advertising campaign for Apple Computer, however, this has yet to be run.

Official Website

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