Adriana Lima Biography

Name: Adriana Lima
Date of Birth: June 12th, 1981
Hometown: Salvador Bahia, Brazil
Current residence: New York/Beverly Hills

Adriana Lima, was born on June 12th, 1981. Born in the small town of Bahia, Brazil to Graca Lima, an 18 year old social worker. Raised by her Mother and Grandparents, she came from very limited means. Adriana continued to grow up and attend school in Bahia, winning beauty contests as early as Grade school. At the age of thirteen, she had a friend at school who wanted to enter a modeling contest and didn't want to enter alone, so Adriana entered with her. Both sent in pictures, and the contest sponsor soon asked Adriana to come out for the competition. Soon after, at the age of 15, she entered and finished in first place in Ford's "Supermodel of Brazil" model search. She subsequently entered the 1996 Ford "Supermodel of the World" contest and finished in second place. After working in Brazil for three years she was offered to move to New York to continue her career. Adriana was hesitant at first and refused to move without her Mother. Graca accompanied Adriana to New York where she signed with Elite Model Management. After acquiring representation, Adriana's modeling portfolio quickly began to expand, and she appeared in numerous international editions of Vogue and Marie Claire. As a runway model, she has walked the catwalks for designers such as Vera Wang, Christian Lacroix, Emanuel Ungaro, Giorgio Armani, Fendi, Ralph Lauren and Valentino, among others. Lima became a GUESS? girl in 2000, appearing in that year's fall ad campaign. She also appeared in the book A Second Decade of Guess? Images.

Adriana continued to build upon her portfolio, doing more print work for Maybelline, for whom she worked as a spokes-model from 2003 until 2009, the same year she appeared in the company's first calendar, a limited edition run also featuring Kemp Muhl, Jessica White, Julia Stegner, and Anna Wang. Adriana has also worked for notable fashion brands Bebe, Mossimo, Armani, Bulgari, De Beers, FCUK, Intimissimi, Keds, Swatch, Versace, BCBG, Givenchy. She also appeared on the covers and in the editorials of other fashion magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, ELLE, GQ, Arena, Cosmopolitan, and Esquire. Her April 2006 GQ cover was the highest-selling issue that magazine for the year, while her April 2008 cover brought a record number of hits to the magazine's website. She also appeared in the 2005 Pirelli Calendar 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.

In February 2008, she was featured on the cover of Esquire, re-creating the classic 1966 Angie Dickinson cover on Esquire's 75th anniversary along with fellow Victoria's Secret Angels Alessandra Ambrosio, Karolina Kurkova, Izabel Goulart and Selita Ebanks. She appeared only in shoes, diamonds and gloves for the November 2007 issue of Vanity Fair celebrating 20 years of supermodels with her fellow Angels. In February 2008, she was chosen to be the face of Mexico's Liverpool department store chain and launched the partnership with a press conference, runway show, and summer campaign. Adriana returned to the high fashion runway in 2009, walking for Givenchy. That same year, after visiting Turkey, Lima signed a contract with Doritos to appear in print campaigns and commercials which began airing in Turkey in April.

Adriana is best known for her work with Victoria's Secret. Adriana first started working for Victoria's Secret in 1998, and appearing in her first commercial in 1999. Adriana auditioned for the Victoria's Secret fashion show in 1997 as well as 1998 but was turned down citing she was to young, but they soon changed their minds. In 1999, Adriana walked the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show for the first time. Victoria's Secret loved her performance, and continued to work with Adriana throughout the year. In the summer of 2000, Victoria's Secret traveled to Cannes for their annual show, Adriana included. After her performance in Cannes, Adriana was signed to a multi million dollar Angel contract for three years.

Three years later, after several campaigns and commercials Adriana was offered to renew her contract, this time for five years. Adriana along with Alessandra Ambrosio, and Gisele Bundchen were the only Victoria's Secret angels to ever have such a long contract. Later that year, Adriana was given the honor of opening the Victoria's Secret show that took place in New York City in November of 2003. In 2004, Adriana took part in the first nationwide Victoria's Secret tour. Alongside Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Gisele Bundchen and Alessandra Ambrosio the angels attended sporting events, and opened concerts along the tour making it one of the most successful promotions Victoria's Secret has ever done. Adriana continued working for Victoria's Secret, becoming one of their most recognizable faces. At the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2007, Adriana opened the show for the second time and was deemed the most popular model in the entire show. Adriana renewed her contract once again in 2008 for five more years, and started her year off by starring in the brands first Super Bowl commercial since 1998. The ad went on to be a worldwide hit and one of the most viewed ads on the internet, along with being the single most-seen ad of the game, watched by 103.7 million viewers. 2008 continued for Adriana with hosting the What Is Sexy? program for the E! Entertainment Network and a July tour for the BioFit Uplift Bra launch, with stops in Long Island, Boston, and Miami Beach .

Adriana was also chosen to appear and relaunch the Victoria's Secret Miracle Bra at the end of 2008. At the 2008 Fashion Show, Adriana opened her third Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (She became the second model to ever open the Victoria's Secret Fashion show three times, an honor that previously was only held by Gisele Bundchen) At the end of the first segment alongside Usher, Adriana closed the segment, something that had never been done in the history of the show. Adriana also wore the Victoria's Secret Black Diamond Fantasy Bra which was worth 4.5 million dollars.

Adriana is also an aspiring actress. Her first acting role was the wife, alongside Mickey Rourke and Forest Whitaker, in The Follow (2001), a short film in BMW's series The Hire, starring Clive Owen. She also appeared with her fellow Angels in a guest spot playing herself in the series How I Met Your Mother in November 2007. In 2008, Adriana appeared on the American television series Ugly Betty, where she played herself and made friends with the series' title character, played by America Ferrera. According to her publicist, Liza Anderson, "Adriana has always been a huge fan of Ugly Betty and is thrilled for the opportunity to make a guest star appearance.

Since her rise to fame, Adriana is often cited by popular media as one of the world's sexiest women. Adriana was listed in the 2005 Forbes' edition of The World's Best-Paid Celebrities Under 25. Also, she ranked No.99th in the 2006 Forbes' edition of The Celebrity 100 (Forbes' Highest Paid and Powerful Celebrities in the World) Adriana was chosen to be a part of People magazine's 100 most beautiful people in the world list, sharing that space with the Angels, with whom she also received a star on the Hollywood "Walk of Fame" prior to the 2007 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. That same year, she ranked 7th on FHM's "100 Sexiest Women 2007" list and was awarded as the "Hottest Girl on the Planet" at the first Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards. Adriana was also voted on the Maxim "Hot 100" 2007 at the #53 spot. She was voted #1 as the Most Desirable Woman in 2005 by visitors of the men's lifestyle website, Askmen.com (she placed 4th in 2006 and 2007, 10th in 2008, and 19th in 2009). Lima is also listed in the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest model on Forbes' Celebrity 100 List. As of November 2008, Models.com featured her at No.1 on the list of the Sexiest Models today.

In addition to her native Portuguese, Adriana speaks English, French, and a bit of Italian. Adriana was shy around boys when she was younger, not receiving her first kiss until she was 17 years old. Afterwards, he went directly to her mother to ask if he could marry her. She is a devout Catholic who attends church every Sunday. In April 2006, she told GQ that she was 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." When she was younger, she studied to become a nun and often takes a Bible backstage to read.

In 2001, Adriana met Lenny Kravitz at a concert in New York City, the two instantly hit it off. After traveling on Lenny's tour bus and attending concerts from the end of 2001 and 2002 the two heat things up. In 2002, Lenny attended several of Adriana's runway show including the Victoria's Secret Show in November. Soon after the couple split, stating that the traveling was causing too much strain on the relationship. The two have remained friends. In 2003, Adriana started dating the Prince of Lichenstien, who she referred to as "Vince" Adriana and Vince dated for several years and rumors swirled of an engagement, though Adriana denied the reports.

In March 2006 the couple split, for reasons that are still unknown. Allegations of Vince cheating on Adriana were well publicized, but were neither confirmed nor denied. In the summer of 2007, Adriana met her future husband Marko Jaric. The two were attendees at a Los Angeles humanitarian event. The two kept in contact, and eventually started dating in October of 2007. Marko is known for being Adriana's biggest supporter, by attending all of the Victoria's Secret Shows, and important events in Adriana's life. In July of 2008, Marko proposed to Adriana at her 27th birthday party in New York City, her friend's claim they've never seen her as excited she was in that exact moment. The couple originally planned a formal wedding in Bahia, Brazil that was originally suppose to take place in May of 2009.

The couple unexpectedly eloped to Jackson Hole, Wyoming on February 14th, 2009. Speculation arose citing Adriana might be pregnant, which she denied. After taking some time off, Adriana attended a Victoria's Secret launch where the rumors of a pregnancy began to arise again. Soon after, the couple traveled to Serbia where Marko's father confirmed the pregnancy. Reps for the couple soon released their own statement in the United States, citing that Adriana was due in the winter of 2009. As for the formal wedding, couple decided to opt for two weddings in each of their hometowns, both are scheduled to take place at the end of 2009.

Adriana 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. Adriana was also part of the Dance for Tolerance program in 2007, to help educate underprivoledged children in Brazil and Colombia. In January 2009, she appeared on Var m?s?n? Yok musun?, the Turkish version of Deal or No Deal, where her prize money went to a hospital in Istanbul for children fighting leukemia. Adriana recently traveled to Serbia with Marko to apply for her Serbian citizenship, so alongside Marko the two can start performing humanitarian events for the country.

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