Heidi Klum (born June 1, 1973) is a German supermodel, actress, TV presenter, fashion designer, television producer and singer.

Career

Born in Bergisch Gladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, Heidi Klum became famous after winning a televised modeling contest in Germany at age 18. After finishing school, she accepted the modeling contract she won and worked as a model throughout Europe briefly before moving to the United States. She lived in Miami, Florida with little success acquiring modeling jobs before moving to New York City. She acquired world-wide fame after signing a contract with Victoria’s Secret and appearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 1998. Since then, she has appeared in many well-known fashion magazines, had several small acting roles in TV shows and movies, and produced and hosted two reality shows of her own: Project Runway and Germany’s Next Top Model. She co-authored a book with Alexandra Postman entitled Body of Knowledge: Eight Rules of Model Behavior, which gives her biography, advice on how to be successful, and many of her favorite pictures.

Modeling and acting

Klum has been on the cover of most of the well-known fashion magazines including Vogue Magazine, ELLE and Marie Claire. She became known for modeling in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and the Victoria’s Secret catalog. In addition to modeling, she has appeared in several TV shows, including Spin City, Sex and the City, and Yes, Dear. She had a role as an ill-tempered hair model in the movie Blow Dry, played a giantess in the movie Ella Enchanted and was cast as Ursula Andress in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. She also had a small cameo appearance in The Devil Wears Prada.

Project Runway

In December of 2004, she became the host and judge of the reality show Project Runway on the U.S. cable television channel Bravo, in which fashion designers compete for the opportunity to show their line at New York Fashion Week and receive money to launch their own fashion line. She also received an Emmy Awards nomination for the show for the first and second seasons.

Clothing line, designing and perfume

Klum has designed her own clothing lines (including one for infants) that were featured in the German mail-order catalog “Otto”. She also has designed shoes for Birkenstock, jewelry for Mouawad, and swimsuits – featured in the 2002 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue – that, for a limited time, were available for sale through her personal website. She was one of the designers of the Victoria’s Secret lingerie line “The Body”, which was named after the nickname she received following her first Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show appearance. Her Mouawad jewelry collection debuted on the cable shopping network QVC on September 14, 2006, and 14 of the 16 styles sold out after only 36 minutes. A second line of her jewelry collection debuted on QVC on April 14, 2007, with similar success.

She has produced two fragrances, called “Heidi Klum” and “Me”, which are currently available for sale through her own website.

She was also involved in the development of a namesake rose, the Heidi Klum rose, which is available in Germany.

Germany’s Next Top Model

Germany’s Next Top Model is a German reality television show which pits contestants against each other in a variety of competitions to determine who will win a modeling contract with IMG. Heidi Klum hosts the show, and it was co-produced by model Tyra Banks. The show is currently airing its second season.

Other

Single cover of Heidi Klum’s debut single “Wonderland”. Heidi Klum is also an artist and has had several of her paintings appear in various art magazines in the U.S. On September 27, 2002 she dedicated a sculpture she painted called “Dog with Butterflies” to commemorate the role of rescue dogs in the aftermath of September 11.

Her other projects have included music and video games. She is featured in the 2004 James Bond video game Everything or Nothing, where she plays a villain Dr. Katya Nadanova. She has appeared in several music videos, including Jamiroquai’s video “Love Foolosophy” from their album A Funk Odyssey, and Kelis’s “Young, Fresh N’ New”, off her second album Wonderland.

In November 2006 Klum released her debut single “Wonderland”, which was written for a series of television advertisements for the German retailer “Douglas”. Proceeds from the single were given to a children’s charity in her hometown of Bergisch Gladbach.

Personal life

Klum married celebrity hairstylist Ric Pipino on September 6, 1997. The couple divorced in November 2002. She has also dated Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis, and Philip Zevenbergen.

Klum has a daughter, Helene “Leni” Klum, who was born on May 4, 2004 and named after Klum’s grandmother. Her father is Klum’s former boyfriend and Formula One manager, Flavio Briatore. Klum’s husband, British musician Seal, is helping her raise the child. Even in the earlier stages of their relationship, Klum said Seal treated Leni as if she was his own child.

Klum and Seal were wed on May 10, 2005, on a beach in Mexico. Klum gave birth to their son, Henry Günther Ademola Dashtu Samuel, in Los Angeles on September 12, 2005. On November 22, 2006, in Los Angeles, Heidi gave birth to their second son, Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo Samuel.