9) Adriana Lima
Adriana Francesca Lima was born on 12th June 1981. She is a Brazilian model and actress who is best known as a Victoria’s Secret Angel since 2000, and as a spokes model for Maybelline cosmetics from 2003 to 2009. At the age of 15, Lima finished first in Ford’s “Supermodel of Brazil” competition, and took second place the following year in the Ford “Supermodel of the World” competition before signing with Elite Model Management in New York City. In 2012, she came in 4th on the Forbes top-earning models list, estimated to have earned $7.3 million in one year. She is married to Serbian basketball player Marko Jaric, with whom she has two daughters.
Adriana Francesca Lima was born on June 12, 1981 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. She is of African, West Indian, Japanese, and Portuguese ancestry. She is a devout Roman Catholic who attends mass every Sunday. In April 2006, she told GQ that she was a virgin. “Sex is for after marriage,” she explained. ” Men have to respect that this is my choice. If there’s no respect, that means they don’t want me.”
After nine months of dating, Lima became engaged to Serbian NBA player Marko Jaric in June 2008. The couple married on St. Valentine’s Day 2009 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.n May 2009, it was reported that Lima had applied for Serbian citizenship. The couple have two daughters: Valentina Lima Jaric (Serbian Cyrillic, born November 15, 2009) and Sienna (Serbian Cyrillic, born September 12, 2012).
Lima never thought about being a model, although she had won many beauty pageants in elementary school. However, she had a friend at school who wanted to enter a modeling contest and did not want to enter alone, so Lima entered with her. Both sent in pictures, and the contest sponsor soon asked Lima 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. Three years later, Lima moved to New York City and signed with Elite Model Management.
After acquiring representation, Lima’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, Giorgio Armani 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.
Lima continued to build upon her portfolio, doing more print work for Maybelline, for whom she worked as a spokesmodel from 2003 until 2009, the same year she appeared in the company’s first calendar. She did an ad campaign for Swatch Lima has also worked for notable fashion brands bebe, Armani, Versace, BCBG and Louis Vuitton. She also appeared on the covers and in the editorials of other fashion magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, GQ, Arena, Vogue, V, Esquire and French Revue des Modes. Her April 2006 GQ cover was the highest-selling issue that magazine for the year. It is also one of the biggest selling issues of the publication ever. The magazine named her “The World’s Most Voluptuous Virgin”.
In 2008, she again fronted the cover of GQ, this time, attracting a record number of visits to the publication’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, Lima was featured on the cover of Esquire, re-creating the classic 1966 Angie Dickinson cover on Esquire’s 75th anniversary. 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. Lima 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 that April. She was also one of the faces of Givenchy for the Fall/Winter 2009 season. Lima is one of the two faces of Blumarine’s Fall/Winter 2011 season.
In 2011, Lima signed a deal as a spokeswoman for Megacity by Votsu, a Brazilian social gaming company, to appear in their commercials. She also became the face of Brazilian luxury brand, Forum for their F/W and S/S seasons. Lima has worked with the most established photographers in fashion such as Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matidin, Vincent Peters, Mario Sorrenti, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott David Sims and Mario Testino. She became the face of Donna Karan’s spring 2012 advertising campaign, which was accused of having racist undertones due to a photo featuring Lima posing in front of huddled local Haitians.
In 2006, Lima ranked as the fifth highest paid supermodel. In 2007 and 2008, she ranked as the world’s fourth highest paid supermodel by Forbes Magazine. In early 2012, Turkish clothing company Mavi Jeans, has made a contract with Adriana to be the face and spokesmodel for the brand. In the first quarter of 2012, her advertisement campaign increased sales to 50%, the highest increase in products sales. It also provided 20% increase in stores and online traffic. Furthermore, her television commercial which was watched by 28 million people became a trending topic at Twitter and the number of people now on Mavi’s facebook page have increased by 20%. Store officials at Mavi say the clothing Adriana wore in the ad campaigns were met with so much demand that, they ran out of stocks. Due to her success rate with the company, the European and Russian branch of Mavi decided to make her the global face of the brand.
Lima was photographed by artist Richard Phillips on the famed Copacabana sidewalk in Brazil for Visionaire no. 62 which was released in mid-2012. Lima is the subject of a painting by Phillips at Gagosian Gallery’s 24th Street Gallery in New York. In an interview, Phillips talks about Lima: “She’s so powerful,really an entity, in a way”. Then added: “You meet her and there’s a generosity of spirit and very friendly and easy manner, and then all of sudden, the lights go on, and you realize you’re working with this absolutely extraordinary person who’s capable of creating these powerful images.”
She is – for the second time – featured in the Pirelli calendar by setting a record of being the first pregnant woman to be ever featured in the calendar for the 2013 edition.
In July 2013, Desigual announced that Adriana Lima will be the face of the brand during Barcelona Fashion Week Spring Summer ’14, following Bar Refaeli in the same role on January 2013.
Lima is probably best known for her work with Victoria’s Secret. Her first fashion show for the company came in 1999, and since being contracted as an Angel in 2000, she has appeared on subsequent shows ever since, opening the show in 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2010. In 2012, she opened the show for the 5th time less than two months after giving birth to her second child. In 2004, she was part of the five Angels promoting Victoria’s Secret nationwide in the so-called “Angels Across America”-Tour alongside Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Gisele Bündchen and Alessandra Ambrosio. She missed the 2009 show due to her pregnancy.
Lima has appeared on several television ads for the brand, including the praised and criticized “Angel in Venice” commercial of 2003 with Bob Dylan. 2008 continued for Lima with hosting the What Is Sexy? program for the E! Entertainment Network and a July tour for the BioFit Uplift Bra launch. She was also featured in November’s Miracle Bra relaunch. Topping the year off, Lima wore the “Fantasy Bra” for the 2008 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. The bra, created by American jewelry designer Martin Katz, was set with 3,575 black diamonds, 117 certified 1 carat (200 mg) white round diamonds, 34 rubies, and two black diamond drops totaling 100 carats (20 g). Valued at over $5 million, the bra carried more than 1,500 carats (300 g). In 2010, she again wore the Fantasy Bra, called the Victoria’s Secret Bombshell Fantasy Bra. The bra which weighs in at 142 carats with 60 carats of white diamonds and 82 carats of topazes and sapphires is worth 2 million dollars.
Lima’s 2008 solo Victoria’s Secret’s Super Bowl XLII ad was the single most-seen ad of the game, watched by 103.7 million viewers. In February 2012, Lima became the only celebrity to ever star in two Super Bowl commercials in one game. She starred in Super Bowl XLVI commercials for online flower service Teleflora and Kia Motors in early 2012 which was watched by more than 200 million viewers. Her Kia Motors Super Bowl commercial – promoting the new Kia Optima – sent sales to their highest mark since the design debuted. Sales were up 31% from January 2012 and 138.6% from February 2012. The commercial was also voted No.3 out of the 55 commercials on USA TODAY and Facebook’s Super Bowl Ad Meter. A teaser of the commercial was released in movie theaters in January before the game. It is believed to be the first time a Super Bowl commercial premiered in movie theaters.
Forbes named her Teleflora commercial as one of the best during Super Bowl XLVI, with the comment, “Teleflora … Adriana Lima. ‘Nuff said”. Among the many reviews the commercial had, The Huffington Post said: “One of the basic goals of any commercial is to capture the viewer’s attention, and by this measure, Teleflora.com’s ad featuring supermodel Adriana Lima was most definitely successful.” ESPN.com noted: “This actually makes sense when you think about it: Launch your Valentine’s Day campaign in the middle of the Super Bowl. That’s actually what flower company Teleflora is doing on Sunday. Even smarter? Hire supermodel Adriana Lima to star in it.”
Lima’s 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 and directed by Wong Kar-wai. She also appeared with her fellow Angels in a guest spot playing herself in the series How I Met Your Mother in November 2007. She also recently played herself along with fellow Angels in the new 2013 series The Crazy Ones starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Geller, she wore the “Fantasy Bra” in that episode.
In 2008, Lima appeared on the American television series Ugly Betty, where she played herself and made friends with the series’ title character, Betty.
Lima was listed in the 2005 Forbes’ edition of The World’s Best-Paid Celebrities Under 25. She ranked ninety-nine in the 2005 and 2006 Forbes’ edition of The Celebrity 100 lists. In 2012, she was listed in Forbes Celebrity 100 power list for earning more than 7 million between May 2011 and May 2012. In 2012, she ranked number eight in forbes’ “The World’s Most Powerful Latino Celebrities” list for earning more than 7 million dollars.
Lima 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 FHMs “100 Sexiest Women 2007” list. Lima was also voted on Maxim’s “Hot 100” 2007 at the No.53 spot. She was voted No.1 as the Most Desirable Woman in 2005 by visitors of the men’s lifestyle website Askmen.com and placed 4th in 2006 and 2007, 10th in 2008, and 19th in 2009. She received the award for “Hottest Girl on the Planet” in the 2007 Spike Guys’ Choice Awards. Since November 2008, Models.com has featured her at number one on the list of the “Sexiest Models.”
As of July 2011, she is also ranked No. 4 in the website’s “Money Girls” list. The website also lists her on “the Supers” list. The list, which has only 8 supermodels, is about supermodels that transcend the boundaries of the fashion industry and have public recognition in and out of fashion. In 2010, she was voted eighth in “FHM’s Sexiest Women in the World”. FHM ranked her at No. 6 in 2009, No. 21 in 2008 and No. 4 in 2007.
In 2010, Lima was ranked No. 46 on the 50 most popular women on the Web according to Google search results. A results from a market research study in 2011 about the UEFA Champions League released by Heineken showed that 52% of men would rather watch their team lift the Champions League trophy than go on a date with Lima. McAfee ranked Lima as the 6th most “dangerous” celebrity in cyberspace in 2010. The ranking, relating to the use of the names of popular celebrities to lure people to websites that are laden with malicious software, ranked Lima number eight in 2011. Complex (magazine) ranks her 4th in the list of “The 100 Hottest Supermodels of All Time”.
In a 2011 interview with The Daily Telegraph, prior to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Lima revealed her diet regimen – nine days before the show, she drinks only protein shakes: “No liquids at all so you dry out, sometimes you can lose up to eight pounds just from that,” she says. She also stated that the last three weeks before the show, she works out twice a day. The interview got negative reviews on the media and was mentioned in CNN’s Anderson Cooper’s “Ridiculist”. Shortly afterwards, Lima defended herself in an interview with E!, “I know it’s very intense but … I just have an athlete’s mind and I appreciate doing this thing,” she said. “It’s not that I do crazy diets throughout the year. I just do it for this particular thing. After this show, I become normal again.”
The Adriana Lima diet became so popular that, it eventually became one of the top five most searched diets on the web in 2012 according to Google. Other celebrities on the list are Beyonce and Michael Phelps. Lima does charitable work helping with an orphanage, “Caminhos da Luz” (Ways of Light), located in Salvador. She helps with construction to expand the orphanage, and buys clothes for poor children in Salvador, Bahia. She appeared on Var misin? 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 Lima said “It’s wrong for a guy to have no personality, no heart. Because I don’t care about style or money. I care about heart.”
Adriana Lima is undeniably one of the most beautiful women in the world. A product of Brazil, men know her best as one of the elite Victoria’s Secret Angels, an association that has afforded her participation in some of the best runway shows and Super Bowl ads over the past decade. The reach of Adriana Lima’s fame has extended beyond the many pop culture branches of the Victoria’s Secret umbrella, leading to her involvement in numerous modeling campaigns, runway appearances and acting projects. Adriana Lima’s substantial industry power and incredible physical appeal have earned her the right to be counted among the very best in her profession. One of today’s top-five earning supermodels, Adriana Lima has joined ranks with the likes of Gisele Bundchen and Marissa Miller. In addition to her financial status, Lima’s piercing beauty has earned her nods from the respective “Sexiest Women” and “Most Beautiful People” lists of People and FHM, while here at AskMen we have featured her numerous times as one of our Top 99 Most Desirable Women — including the No. 1 spot in 2005.
Having remained a virgin until after marriage, Adriana Lima is undoubtedly one of the most virtuous members of the Victoria’s Secret Angels. An angel in more ways than one, she waited until age 17 to experience her first kiss, to which her partner responded by immediately asking her mother for permission to marry the model. His reaction was honorable, but it wasn’t far off from what would be required to go any further with Adriana Lima. A devout Catholic (she’s been known to bring her Bible to runway events), she’s been open about her belief in abstinence and admitted to GQ in April of 2006 that she was, in fact, a virgin. That issue, starring Adriana Lima as its cover girl, was GQ’s top-seller of the year, and the magazine christened her as “The World’s Most Voluptuous Virgin.”
While Adriana Lima probably suffers from no shortage of marriage proposals, she still spent some time on the celebrity dating scene before finally finding her ideal match. The lure of royalty — in the form of Prince Wenzeslaus of Liechtenstein — wasn’t enough to win her over, nor was rock star appeal, as one Lenny Kravitz soon learned. Adriana Lima’s winning suitor would come in the form of Serbian basketball star (and former NBA player) Marko Jaric, who met her in 2007 and married her in 2009. Adriana Lima may have left her virgin label at the altar, but thanks to her stunning figure and riveting gaze, she remains among the most beautiful of beauties.
After winning one of Brazil’s biggest modeling competitions at 15, Adriana Lima has been on an upward climb. Joining Victoria Secret’s ranks in 1999, she went on to earn her angel wings in 2001. Since then, she’s been able to groove with Bob Dylan, has been the star of some of the highest rated commercials during the Super Bowl, has shown off a multimillion dollar bra and also inked her name onto other lucrative contracts with the likes of Maybelline, Givenchy, Guess?, Mavi and even Doritos. One of the more versatile Victoria’s Secret Angels regarding the projects she chooses, Adriana Lima is the total professional package — and her industry weight as one of the priciest models backs it up.
When she’s not playfully mimicking Angie Dickinson on magazine covers, befriending Ugly Betty or joining Clive Owen on cinematic BMW commercials, Adriana Lima somehow finds time to have a life away from modeling and make a difference in causes that she believes in. On her off days, she’s an avid reader and a supporter of the Ways of Light orphanage in her birthplace of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. In addition, she also participated in a local broadcast of Deal or No Deal to help Turkish children with leukemia.
Her second place finish in the 1996 “Supermodel of the World” competition assured Adriana Lima that a modeling career was in the cards. She took full advantage of the opportunity by signing a deal with Elite Model Management and heading straight into print, ad and runway work. Adriana’s first runway appearance was for Anna Sui in 1997 within a year, she would already have an ad contract with Anna Molinari and a cover shoot for Marie Claire (Brazil) in the books. In 1999, the young model would continue to develop her runway credentials by wearing the collections of Emanuel Ungaro and Balmain.
Adrian Lima’s most significant hire of 1999 was Victoria’s Secret, who brought her on board that year for their annual fashion show and their summer catalog a year later. The company was so taken with the Brazilian beauty that they named her as one of the Victoria’s Secret Angels — immediately boosting her career and modeling credibility, accompanied by big payday. In their efforts to keep pace with the industry’s hot new faces, other companies and designers like Guess?, Vera Wang and Ralph Lauren quickly scooped her up. Automobile giant BMW took a different approach by including the model in Wong Kar-Wai’s The Follow, a short film series that costarred Forest Whitaker and Mickey Rourke, and was headlined by Clive Owen.
In 2002 and 2003, Adriana Lima added to her runway repertoire by participating in shows for Christian Dior, Versace and the late Alexander McQueen. A cosmetics deal with Maybelline followed, as did a cover shoot for the March 2003 edition of Elle, but first and foremost Adriana Lima was still an Angel. As a testament to this, she experienced one of her career highlights in a 2004 Victoria’s Secret Super Bowl commercial with Bob Dylan, a project that had her donning wings, heels and — of course — lingerie. The ad would be seen by more than 100 million viewers worldwide. Just a year later, Adriana would put her unique stamp on Italy as the face of Telecom Italia Mobile in a campaign that led her to be nicknamed “The Catherine Zeta-Jones of Italy.” In 2012, she was the only model to star in two separate Super Bowl commercials, including Teleflora and Kia Motors (both ads resulted in an increase in sales for both companies). She has since been a cover girl for GQ, and both Spanish and Brazilian Vogue.
Following a legendary best-selling GQ cover appearance in 2006 that dished on her sexual exploits (or lack thereof), Adriana Lima was named by Forbes in 2007 as one of modeling’s highest-earners. Following another Super Bowl commercial in 2008, she continued her industry dominance through the rest of the year, starting with an Esquire cover pose inspired by Angie Dickinson to celebrate the magazine’s 75th birthday. It was an iconic cover that also included other Victoria’s Secret Angels like Selita Ebanks, Izabel Goulart, Karolina Kurkova, and Alessandra Ambrosio. Another GQ cover shoot — which attracted a record number of website visits — came next before Adriana Lima made another iconic appearance for Victoria’s Secret by wearing a $5 million, 1,500 carat bra at the company’s fashion show.
Adriana Lima would also spend part of 2008 in the acting world as herself (and a new friend of America Ferrera’s title character) on the popular television series Ugly Betty. In 2009, Lima would team up with Givenchy for an illustrious fashion show before joining fellow beauties Iris Strubegger and Mariacarla Boscono as the company’s models for its ensuing Fall/Winter collection.
After her marriage in 2009, Adriana gave birth to daughter Valentina Lima Jaric. She was back on the runway looking better than ever, and starred as the cover model for the June 2010 issue of V. Having proclaimed that being a mother is her favorite job, the 30-year-old Adriana Lima had her second daughter with husband Marko Jaric in September 2012.
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