Paulina Porizkova
|
|
Paulina_Porizkova_1.jpg
Paulina Porizkova (born April 9 1965) is an actress and former supermodel. She was born as Pavlína Pořízková in Prostějov, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). Measurements: 35B-23 1/2-35 1/2 Height: 5' 10 1/2" 1.79m
| Contents |
Early life
Porizkova's father left Czechoslovakia and moved to Lund in the south of Sweden in the 1970s, then hired people to "rescue" his wife and daughter (Paulina). This was always headline news in Sweden during the Cold War mainly because they were such a good looking couple. After years of failed rescue attempts, the Czech government finally gave in, and let the family reunite in Sweden. The parents soon separated though, and Paulina never liked Sweden, for she was harassed in school and relagated to the geek crowd. As a child she was not considered a very beautiful girl.
Modeling career
After being discovered in Sweden, Paulina quickly rose up to become the top model in Paris during the early eighties. She stood out from the sea of blonds as a brunette with exotic girl next door looks. She became a household name after getting the coveted spot as cover model of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 1984 and 1985. A record third consecutive run as SI covergirl in 1986 issue was aborted by SI editors when she appeared as the covergirl of a special Life magazine swimsuit anniversary issue. At her height, she appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine in August 1987 to preview her new (non nude) swimsuit caldender. Her first calender also sold a record 250,000, paving the way for other models for their own calenders. Paulina Porizkova was considered the most beautiful model of her era. She was chosen twice by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world in 1990 and 1992. Bazaar magazine named her as one of the ten most beautiful women in 1992. American Photo magazine in its premiere issue declared her to be the model of the 80's. She appeared on the covers of countless magazines around the world during the eighties and nineties including appearances on Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, and Glamour.
In 1988, Paulina won what was the highest paying modeling gig at the time, a six million dollar a year contract as the face of Estee Lauder. The Estee makeover turned her public image from an eastern European sexpot to the epitome of European sophistication. After having her first child, she devoted less and less time to modeling. The Estee Lauder contract expired in 1995 and Elizabeth Hurley became the company's face. She quickly got a new gig as lead model for Escada. In the early 21st century she hosted a show on E!'s Style channel. She made her first appearance in Victoria's Secret in 2005.
Paulina_Porizkova.jpg
During her modelling career, Porizkova had a very noticeable gap between her two front teeth. For this reason, she always appeared with a closed mouth smile during her early modelling career. The smile became something of a trademark for her during that period of her career. The gap was corrected before her major film debut in Anna.
Family
Seeming to have a preference for extremely thin men—she once stated in an interview that she would like to ravage Mr. Spock—Porizkova married Ric Ocasek, a musician with the group The Cars on August 23 1989. The couple has two sons, Jonathan Raven Ocasek, born December 1993, and Oliver Orion Ocasek, born May 1998.
Movie career
Paulina's film debut was in the 1983 pseudo modeling documentary Portfolio. Still only 17, she manage to look more mature and intelligent than the other more established models, and became the literal "covergirl" for the film. Porizkova appeared in the 1987 movie, Anna, receiving glowing reviews from her patrons at Vogue magazine. However she was nominated for a Golden Raspberry for worst actress for her 1989 appearance in Her Alibi, which starred Tom Selleck. Starred in the bizarre cult film, Arizona Dream with Johnny Depp and Jerry Lewis, in a minor role as the stunning young fiance of Lewis. She appeared nude in the violent Thursday. Most recently, she wrote and directed the 2001 movie in which she also starred, Roommates. In 2004, she starred in the indepedent film romantic comedy, Knots. She turned down an opportunity to be a Bond Girl in the 1995 movie GoldenEye because of better salaries in modeling and that it would take time away from her family.