Natalia Vodianova Biography




Natalia Vodianova
extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Natalia Vodianova
Natalia Vodianova.jpg
Birth name Наталья Водянова
Date of birth 28 February 1982 (1982-02-28) (age 27)
Place of birth Gorky, Soviet Union
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)1
Hair colour Light brown1
Eye colour Blue1
Measurements 86.5-61-86.5 cm (34-24-34 in)1
Dress size 34 EU / 4 US / 6 UK1
Shoe size 38½ EU / 8 US / 5½ UK1
Spouse(s) Justin Trevor Berkeley Portman

Natalia Vodianova (Russian: Наталья Водянова, born 28 February 1982)2 is a Russian model, actress and philanthropist who now permanently resides in the United Kingdom.3

Contents

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.3

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.4 By age 17, Vodianova had moved to Paris, and signed with Viva Models.4

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, Pepe Jeans, Diane von Fürstenberg, Chanel and others.5

As of May 2009, Vodianova has appeared on the cover of British Vogue seven times; the first was the September 2003 issue.6 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.7 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.8 In September 2008, Vodianova stated that she was not interested in filmmaking because of her three children;9 however, she appears in director Alexander Kott's 2009 film Probka.8

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.10

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.111213

In May 2009, Vodianova co-hosted the semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow.14

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.1516

In November 2001, Vodianova married The Honourable Justin Trevor Berkeley Portman, a British real estate heir and half-brother of the 10th Viscount Portman.17 In September 2002, over nine months after registering the marriage in the UK, they had a wedding ceremony in St. Petersburg.18 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 2007.2 Neva is named after the Russian river Neva19 and Viktor is named after Natalia's grandfather, who had helped raise her after her father's departure.20

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.32122 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.15 The organisation built its first play park in 2006 in Nizhny Novgorod. It has since built nearly 30 more.23

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Profile of fashion model Natalia Vodianova". Fashion Model Directory. http://www.fashionmodeldirectory.com/models/Natalia_Vodianova. Retrieved 2009-11-06. 
  2. ^ a b "Natalia Vodianova - Fashion Model - Profile". NYMag.com. New York Media LLC. http://nymag.com/fashion/models/nvodianova/nataliavodianova/. Retrieved 2009-05-29. 
  3. ^ a b c "About Us - Our Founders". Naked Heart Foundation. http://www.nakedheart.org/aboutus_ourfounders.php. Retrieved 2009-03-08. 
  4. ^ a b "Horoscopes - Celebs - Pisces - Natalia Vodianova". Elle (UK) website. Hachette Filipacchi (UK) Ltd. http://www.elleuk.com/Horoscopes/celebs/(sign)/Pisces/(celeb)/Natalia%20Vodianova. Retrieved 2009-04-16. 
  5. ^ "Profile of Fashion Model Natalia Vodianova". Fashion Model Directory. http://www.fashionmodeldirectory.com/models/Natalia_Vodianova/. Retrieved 2009-03-08. 
  6. ^ "Vogue Magazine Archive (Vogue.com UK)". Vogue (UK) website. CondéNetUK Limited. http://www.vogue.co.uk/magazine/issue.aspx/Archive/Model,Natalia%20Vodianova/Search,Model/. Retrieved 2009-05-26. 
  7. ^ "Vogue's July Model Cover". Miss Stylologist blog. 2 July 2007. http://missstylologist.blogspot.com/2007/07/vogues-july-model-cover.html. Retrieved 2009-03-08. 
  8. ^ a b "Natalia Vodianova Filmography". Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1177440/. Retrieved 2009-03-08. 
  9. ^ "Natalia Vodianova: 'I try to be a good mother'". metkere.com website. metkere.com. 20 September 2008. http://metkere.com/en/2008/09/natalia-vodianova.html. Retrieved 2009-03-08. 
  10. ^ Jessica Bumpus (9 February 2009). "Model Designs". Vogue (UK) website. CondéNetUK Limited. http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/090209-natalia-vodianova-turns-designer.aspx. Retrieved 2009-05-26. 
  11. ^ Blakeley, Kiri (16 July 2007). "In Pictures: The World's Top-Earning Models". Forbes.com. Forbes.com LLC. http://www.forbes.com/2007/07/09/models-media-bundchen-biz-media-cz_kb_0716topmodels1_slide_8.html?. Retrieved 2009-04-16. 
  12. ^ Blakeley, Kiri (30 April 2008). "In Pictures: The World's 15 Top-Earning Models". Forbes.com. Forbes.com LLC. http://www.forbes.com/2008/04/30/models-bundchen-klum-biz-media-cz_kb_0430topmodels_slide_14.html?. Retrieved 2009-04-16. 
  13. ^ Streib, Lauren (27 May 2009). "In Pictures: The World's Top-Earning Models". Forbes.com. Forbes.com LLC. http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/27/moss-bundchen-klum-business-media-models_slide_14.html. Retrieved 2009-05-29. 
  14. ^ "Channel 1 Russia press conference - News - Eurovision Song Contest - Moscow 2009". Eurovision Song Contest Official Website. EBU. 11 May 2009. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=2555. Retrieved 2009-05-26. 
  15. ^ a b Natalia Vodianova (13 January 2008). "How I get dressed". The Observer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/jan/13/fashion.features2. Retrieved 2009-05-26. 
  16. ^ Camilla Long (3 February 2008). "Supernova Heights; the Sussex home of Natalia Vodianova". The Sunday Times. http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/interiors/article3261192.ece. Retrieved 2009-05-26. 
  17. ^ "Birth, Marriage and Death indexes 1984 - 2006". findmypast.com. http://www.findmypast.com/post84BMDSearchStart.action?redef=0&searchType=M. Retrieved 2009-05-26. 
  18. ^ "Afterwards: congratulations Nati!". Models Blog. 3 April 2006. http://www.modelsblog.info/2006/04/03/afterwards-congratulations-nati/. Retrieved 2009-05-26. 
  19. ^ Dolly Jones (29 March 2006). "Natalia's Girl Arrives". Vogue (UK). http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/daily/2006-03/060329-natalias-girl-arrives.aspx. Retrieved 2009-05-26. 
  20. ^ "Beeb gets its tutus in a twist". Daily Mail. 6 November 2007. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/columnists/article-492130/Beeb-gets-tutus-twist.html. Retrieved 2009-05-26. 
  21. ^ "About Us - Trustees". Naked Heart Foundation. http://www.nakedheart.org/aboutus_trustees.php. Retrieved 2009-03-08. 
  22. ^ "About Us - Our Mission". Naked Heart Foundation. http://www.nakedheart.org/aboutus_ourmission.php. Retrieved 2009-03-08. 
  23. ^ "What We Do - Map". Naked Heart Foundation. http://www.nakedheart.org/whatwedo_map.php. Retrieved 2009-10-03. 

External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Natalia Vodianova
Preceded by
Željko Joksimović & Jovana Janković		 Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Finals presenter
(with Andrey Malakhov)
2009		 Succeeded by
Incumbent