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Adriana Lima
Adriana Lima, 30 April 2007
Birth name	Adriana Francesca Lima[1]
Date of birth	June 12, 1981 (1981-06-12) (age 27)
Place of birth	Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Hair color	Brown[2]
Eye color	Blue-green[2]/ Blue [3]
Measurements	34-23-33 in[2] (86-58-84 cm)
Dress size	34 (EU); 4 (US)
Shoe size	9 (US)[2]
Agency	DNA Model Management[2] Lumiere Models in Brazil VIVA Models in Europe

Adriana Lima (born June 12^[4] 1981) is a Brazilian supermodel perhaps best known for her high-profile work with Victoria's Secret lingerie giant and Maybelline cosmetics. Lima was discovered at age 15 when she entered and finished first in Brazil's Ford Supermodel of the World competition, finishing second the following year before signing with Elite Model Management in New York City.

Early life and family

Adriana Francesca Lima, of African, Native South American and Swiss descent,^[5][6][7] was born in the northeastern coastal town of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil on June 12, 1981. Her father, of which she was estranged for most of her life is Nelson Torres and her mother, Maria da Graça Lima, was a social worker who gave birth to Lima at the age of 18. Lima revealed that her father had walked out on her family when she was six months old^[8], but has been making recent attempts to reconcile.^[9]. In late 2007, Lima revealed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that she has two half brothers, aged 7 and 11, from her father's second marriage.^[10] Coming from a very poor family, the first time she ever traveled was on her flight to New York at the age of 15. She was raised primarily by her Mother and Grandmother who came from very limited means. ^[11]

Career

Early career

Lima never thought about being a model. She had a friend at school who wanted to enter a modeling contest and didn't want to enter alone. So, consequently, Lima entered with her. Both sent in pictures, and the contest sponsor soon asked Lima to come out for the competition.^[12] Soon after, at the age of 15, 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 in second place.^[13] Three years later, Lima moved to New York City and signed with Elite Model Management. After acquiring representation, Lima's modeling portfolio began to expand by leaps and bounds, and she appeared 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 and 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.^[14]

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 Wong Kar-Wai.^[15]

Lima continued to build upon her portfolio, doing more print work for Maybelline, as well as bebe, Mossimo, Armani, Bulgari, De Beers, FCUK, Intimissimi, Keds, Swatch, Versace, and BCBG.^[16] She also appeared on the covers and in the editorials of other fashion magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, ELLE, Vogue, GQ, Marie Claire, Arena, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, and many more.^[17] Her April 2006 GQ cover was the highest-selling issue that magazine for the year.^[18] She also appeared in the 2005 Pirelli Calendar^[14] and became the face of Italy's cell phone carrier, Telecom Italia Mobile, a move that earned her the nickname, "the Catherine Zeta-Jones of Italy."^[19]

Victoria's Secret

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. Lima was contracted to become an angel for Victoria's Secret in 2000 and has kept her spot ever since. Lima had appeared on several television ads for the brand but her most memorable one, was appearing alongside the legendary rock musician Bob Dylan in 2003 Victoria's Secret Angel in Venice commercial which received both praise and criticism.^[20][21] She is currently a contract "Angel" and spokesperson for the brand. She was the sole model in Victoria's Secret's Super Bowl XLII ad.^[14] It was the single most-seen ad in the game, watched by 103.7 million viewers.^[22]

Endorsements

Lima is also a spokesperson for cosmetics giant Maybelline New York.^[3] She is the world's fourth highest paid supermodel as of 2007.^{[18][19][23][24]}

Fashion portal

Public image

Personal life

Lima is fluent in three languages: Portuguese, English, and French. She also speaks a bit of Italian. Contrary to popular belief, she does not speak Spanish. She has denied being able to speak Spanish and, when asked in videos to speak the language, she expresses only a few words.^[25] In her free time, she loves reading a novel by her favorite author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.^[3] Although she has appeared in a few commercials with cars, all of which were completed with the help of a green screen, she has admitted that she does not actually have a driver's license and is yet to learn how to drive.^[26]

Lima has admitted that she was shy around boys when she was younger, not receiving her first kiss until she was 17 years old. They were watching a movie, and after the boy kissed her, he went directly to her mother to ask if he could marry her.^[27] She doesn't care to wear shorts, because she felt that boys didn't like them. She still hides her legs from said old fear ^[28]In an interview with GQ April 2006 issue, Lima told the magazine that she is a devoted Catholic who attends church every Sunday and is a virgin. "Sex is for after marriage," she explained. "They (men) have to respect that this is my choice. If there's no respect, that means they don't want me."^[29] US GQ dubbed her as "The World's Most Voluptuous Virgin."^[30]

Lima works out regularly, jumping rope, cardio and a custom tailored boxing routine. ^[31] She admits to eating healthy and in the past being on carb diets, but her weakness is meat but she doesn't like hot dogs.^[32]

Lima has been romantically linked to other celebrities in the past, including rocker Lenny Kravitz,^[30] Prince Wenzeslaus of Liechtenstein,^[24] and Denny of Timbalada.

Currently, Lima is engaged to Serbian basketball player Marko Jarić of the NBA Memphis Grizzlies.^[33] The wedding is planned for June of 2009. ^[34]

Lima has admitted to loving children and plans on having 4 of her own some day.^[34]

In her free time Adriana likes to stay home in her pajamas and watch Brazilian soap operas^[35]

Reception

Victoria's Secret Angels Adriana Lima (left), Marisa Miller and Selita Ebanks ride in the Guantanamo Bay Christmas Parade Dec. 1, 2007

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^[36] and was chosen as one of People Magazine's annual 100 Most Beautiful People in the World, in May 2007, along with her fellow Angels.^[37] 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.^[38] 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 men's lifestyle website, Askmen.com (she was placed 4th in 2006, also 4th in 2007 and 10th in 2008).

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. She also stands for animal rights.^[13]

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Adriana Lima

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Adriana Lima

• Adriana Lima at the Internet Movie Database
• Adriana Lima's Official Site
• FashionModelTalk (Adriana's official forum)
• Adriana Lima in the Fashion Model Directory
• Adriana Lima Fan.net (extensive fan site)