ACTRESS: Miranda Kerr

Miranda Kerr

Kerr was born in Sydney and raised in the small town of Gunnedah, New South Wales.[5] She is the daughter of Therese and John Kerr. She has a brother, Matthew, who is two years younger. In an interview, Kerr stated she is of English, French and Scottish descent. During her childhood, Kerr "raced motorbikes and rode horses on her grandmother's farm." She describes her early life in the Australian countryside as "very grounding ... there wasn't any pretentiousness and no one really cared what you were wearing. You could just be you."[6] Her family moved to Brisbane to allow Kerr and her brother to experience city life, where she graduated from All Hallows' School in 2000. Kerr originally went on to study nutrition and health psychology before pursuing modeling. At age 13, Kerr entered and won the 1997 annual Dolly Magazine/Impulse Model Competition. She was flown to Sydney a week before her 14th birthday to shoot for the magazine. Upon Kerr's win, local media expressed "concerned outrage" at her young age. The controversy raised concerns about the glorification of young girls within the fashion, beauty, and entertainment industries. Some conservative media outlets claimed her Dolly shoot (including images of a 14-year-old Kerr in bathing suits) constituted a form of child pornography.[citation needed] Of the press, Kerr said: "In the media at the time they were trying to cling on to anything remotely to do with paedophilia. Dolly is a magazine for teenage girls, not for old men. And I was fully clothed! Doing a winter shoot! They just made something out of nothing." Kerr signed to Chic Management's Sydney division. She received considerable commercial exposure after a series of beachwear ads predominantly for Australian surf chain Billabong, in which Kerr modeled surf brands Tigerlily, Roxy, Billabong Girls, and One Teaspoon. This increased her profile in the Australian, Thai and Asian markets, after which Kerr relocated to New York where she became co-owner of the Bowery Ballroom. Once in New York, Kerr had a multitude of runway appearances and then signed with NEXT Model Management in early 2004. From there, she was booked for runway and print campaigns for major labels, including Alex Perry, Baby Phat, Lisa Ho, Voodoo Dolls, Levi's, Bettina Liano, Nicola Finetti, L.A.M.B., Heatherette, Betsey Johnson, Trelise Cooper, Jets, John Richmond, Blumarine Swimwear, Neiman Marcus, Seafolly Swimwear, Anna Molinari, Rock and Republic, Roberto Cavalli, and Ober Jeans. Kerr was also booked for print in magazines such as Elle, Australian Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, and was featured in television advertisements for brands like Portmans, Bonds, and Veet. In early 2006, Kerr appeared in the finale episode of the TV show Project Runway, modeling clothes for contestant Daniel Vosovic's final collection. She was the first woman to walk down the catwalk. In 2006, Kerr broke into the United States market when she signed a lucrative cosmetics contract with Maybelline New York. The campaign ran in a series of internationally sold women's beauty magazines, including Cosmopolitan, CLEO, and Elle, and was eventually featured in Victoria's Secret catalogues. She (along with several other Victoria's Secret and Next agency models) was also featured in a music video for the American hip-hop single "Number One" by artists Kanye West and Pharrell. Following her success with Maybelline, Kerr became the first Australian model to be offered a contract with Victoria's Secret in 2007, replacing Gisele Bündchen. Upon her acceptance, she became the first ever Australian Victoria's Secret Angel joining the stable of models already signed to the lingerie giant, including Alessandra Ambrosio, Karolína Kurková, Adriana Lima, Selita Ebanks, Izabel Goulart, and Heidi Klum. Before becoming an Angel in 2007, Kerr was already picked to become the successor of Alessandra Ambrosio as the face of PINK in 2006. Kerr's popularity continued to increase as one of the globally recognized Angels when she appeared in the Victoria's Secret 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 televised runway shows, which aired on four continents. In 2007, Kerr had signed on as the face of Californian fashion retailer Arden B. After debuting in their Spring and Summer ad campaigns, Kerr returned for their Fall 2007 campaign, shot by fashion photographer Diego Uchitel. Following her modeling success with Victoria's Secret, Kerr made a small guest appearance in the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother alongside fellow Angels: Adriana Lima, Marisa Miller, Alessandra Ambrosio, Heidi Klum, and Selita Ebanks. She also became the new face of Clinique Happy and signed a lucrative six-figure deal to be the new face of Australian department store David Jones, replacing model Megan Gale. In 2008, having earned an estimated $3.5 million in the past 12 months, Forbes placed Kerr tenth in the list of the world's top-earning models. Since 2009, Kerr was in the spring/summer ad campaign for XOXO. She was in Forbes 2009 list of the world's highest-paid models, ranking 9th with estimated earnings of $3 million. She left NEXT Model Management and signed with IMG Models. Kerr posed nude on the cover of Rolling Stone Australia's July 2009 issue. She became the face Kora Organic Skincare for fall/winter 09, then ended the year walking in the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. In October 2009, Kerr launched an organic skincare line, called KORA Organics, in Australia with co-founder George Moskos. Kerr's mother Therese has been the General Manager of KORA Organics since February 2010. The company is based in Sydney. Kerr's brother Matt also works for the company. She appeared in the 2010 Pirelli Calendar photographed by Terry Richardson in Bahia, Brazil. Kerr became an author writing an inspirational self-esteem, self-help book called Treasure Yourself (2010) aimed at the female teenage demographic. Previously known for her Victoria's Secret bombshell status rather than her high fashion work, Balenciaga is credited for launching her high fashion modeling career when casting directors Ashley Brokaw and Nicolas Ghesquière chose her to walk exclusively for the brand's spring 2010 runway show. It was her first designer fashion show, aside from Victoria's Secret, since 2007. A season later she walked for design company Prada for their Fall 2010 collection in Milan alongside fellow Angels Doutzen Kroes and Alessandra Ambrosio. Kerr then scored fall/winter-campaigns for Prada and Jil Sander, and was shot by Steven Meisel for the September 2010 cover of Italian Vogue. In January 2011, Kerr became the first pregnant model for Vogue when featured in Vogue Australia, being six months pregnant at the time of the shoot. In March she hit the catwalk for Balenciaga's Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear collection as part of Paris Fashion Week, two months after giving birth. In 2011 she was featured in Dior's Ready to Wear and Lanvin's Ready to Wear runway.[citation needed] Kerr also posted nude for a 2011 Harper's Bazaar photo shoot. At models.com, she is ranked at number 4 on the Top 20 sexiest models. Miranda Kerr was chosen to unveil the $2.5 million Victoria's Secret Fantasy Treasure Bra for the lingerie maker's fashion show in November 2011.