Meet Alessandra Ambrosio. She’s the hottest model to come from Brazil since Gisele Bundchen. Go behind the scenes with Alessandra Ambrosio as she shoots campaigns for XOXO and Victoria’s Secret.
Alessandra Corine Ambrósio is a Brazilian supermodel. Described by model Tyra Banks as “the future of the modeling world”, Alessandra Ambrosio is best known for her work with Victoria’s Secret and was chosen as the first spokesmodel for the company’s “PINK” line. Alessandra Ambrosio is currently one of the Victoria’s Secret Angels. Aside from modeling work, Alessandra Ambrosio serves as an ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Alessandra Ambrosio was also selected by AskMen.com as Number 2 out of the “Top 99 Most Desirable Women”.
Alessandra Ambrosio was born in Erechim, Brazil. Alessandra Ambrósio was just eight years old when she decided that she wanted to be a model, after seeing a picture of top covergirl Karen Mulder in a magazine: “I wanted to be like her”, she recalls. She enrolled at a modeling class at the age of 12 and at the age of 14 she was one of 20 finalists for an elite modeling competition in Brazil. Alessandra Ambrosio was always insecure about her large ears and at eleven had cosmetic surgery to get her ears pinned back, though two years later she suffered complications. In 2006 she appeared on The Tyra Banks Show and said that the surgery was a bad experience and has discouraged her from ever getting plastic surgery again.
When Alessandra Ambrosio was 12 years old, she enrolled in modeling classes. Winning Brazil’s Elite Model Look started her modeling career. Her first notable modeling job was the cover of Brazilian Elle magazine. Elite passed along some of her Polaroids to Guess which led her booking the Millennium GUESS? campaign along with friend and fellow Brazilian Ana Beatriz Barros.
She has since appeared in advertisements for brands like Revlon, Christian Dior, Giorgio Armani, Hummer, Rolex, Oscar De La Renta, Gucci, Escada, Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana (as seen on the video) and Ralph Lauren, as well as the Pirelli Calendar. She has walked the catwalks for designers such as Prada, Chanel, and Marc Jacobs. She has appeared in numerous international magazine covers, including Cosmopolitan magazine, Elle magazine, GQ magazine, Harper’s Bazaar magazine, Marie Claire magazine, and Vogue magazine, and the only model to appear on the cover of Glamour magazine in the United States in 2006.
In 2004, Ambrosio launched her line of swimwear called Alessandra Ambrosio by Sais, a division of Rosa Chá. It sold 10,000 units in only its first month on the market. Alessandra Ambrosio is best known for her collaboration with American lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret. She appeared in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show for the first time in 2000. By 2004, she was selected as the first spokesmodel for the Victoria’s Secret “PINK” line and signed an exclusive “Angel” contract with the brand. In 2005, she notably walked the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show runway wearing lingerie made entirely out of candy. Alessandra Ambrosio then garnered attention in the 2008 edition of the Fashion Show, walking the runway only three months after giving birth to her first child. She opened the show the following year.
Alessandra Ambrosio has made several television appearances, notably a cameo as herself on HBO’s Entourage along with Izabel Goulart, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, as guest judge on Heidi Klum’s Project Runway, and The Tyra Banks Show where she was a guest twice. She appeared alongside TV personality Regis Philbin in a worldwide commercial for Hummer. In 2006, she had a cameo on the box-office hit movie, Casino Royale appearing briefly as a tennis girl. Alessandra Ambrosio guest-starred on How I Met Your Mother (episode: “The Yips”) with her fellow Victoria’s Secret Angels Adriana Lima, Selita Ebanks, Marisa Miller, Miranda Kerr, and Heidi Klum.
Alessandra Ambrosio’s Victoria’s Secret Angel status has brought her to the public’s attention, often being cited by the popular media as one of the world’s sexiest women. She was chosen as one of People magazine’s annual “100 Most Beautiful People in the World” in May 2007, along with fellow Victoria’s Secret Angels. Alessandra Ambrosio is among the world’s top-earning models (see our other articles to find out how many millions of dollars per year she makes modeling). When Alessandra Ambrosio first came to New York, Gisele Bundchen lent her apartment for two weeks and Adriana Lima helped her translate English. She described her typical week as jetsetting from one country to another for photo shoots and in between she has some phone interviews. She still visits her family in Brazil regularly and calls Erechim, Brazil her favorite place in the world and having traveled the world has not yet convinced her otherwise.
She is very conscious of her figure and works out with her Brazilian trainer doing the Brazilian Butt Lift, which is a mix of samba, capoeira, and aerobics. Alessandra Ambrosio’s best friend is fellow Brazilian model Ana Beatriz Barros. On August 24, 2008, Ambrosio and her fiancé, California businessman Jamie Mazur, had their first child, a daughter named Anja Louise Ambrosio Mazur, in Florianopolis, Brazil. Alessandra Ambrosio is represented by multiple modeling agencies throughout the world.
ZARZAR MODELS is one of the top female modeling agencies in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Beverly Hills representing women in print editorials, high fashion runway, film, television commercials, and promotions. The agency has as partners fashion modeling agencies in major fashion cities such as San Francisco, Miami, New York, London, Paris, Milan, and Sao Paulo Brazil and recruits and represents models throughout the world through its global fashion and modeling network.