Cindy Crawford
Biography
Cynthia
Ann Crawford was born February 20, 1966, in De Kalb, Illinois. She
was discovered by chance by a newspaper photographer, who noticed
then 16-year old Cindy at work during her summer job of detasselling
corn and took her a picture of her. The photo and the positive feedback
surrounding Cindy's photogenic talents were enough to convince her
to quit her day job and take up modelling.
Thanks
to two summers of modelling, represented by Elite Model Management
in Chicago, the All-American beauty proved to also have brains --
she traded in the glamorous life a model (at least temporarily)
to study chemical engineering at Northwestern University, on scholarship.
The former
high school valedictorian pulled off the same exceptional grades
in college as in high school, but she didn't stick around long enough
to see where a degree in engineering would have taken her. She left
school in order to pursue a full-time modelling career. After working
for photographer Victor Skrebneski in Chicago and becoming a success,
Cindy took her supermodel assets to New York City in 1986.
To no
great surprise, it didn't take long for Cindy to establish herself
as a model. After two years, she was walking down catwalks for the
biggest fashion designers and posing as a cover girl for fashion
magazines. She had become one of the first to enter the elite group
of original supermodels, along with models Naomi Campbell, Claudia
Schiffer and Linda Evangelista, and she had the salary to prove
it.
In 1988,
Cindy made more history as the first modern supermodel to appear
in Hugh Hefner's mag. Her Play.boy spread not only impressed men
young and old worldwide, but it lead to her 6-year stunt as host
for MTV's House of Style.
Always
the entrepreneur, Cindy launched a series of swimsuit calendars
and fitness videos, which were both tremendously successful. Her
business savvy also came in handy when Naomi Campbell, Elle MacPherson
and Claudia Schiffer invested in the Fashion Café chain,
but Cindy saw potential in the then lucrative Planet Hollywood.
With
contracts for Pepsi, Kay Jewelers, and most notably Revlon (a multi-year,
million dollar contract, that is), Cindy and her company, Crawdaddy
Inc. were seeing the fruits of her name, reputation and beauty.
Always one to take risks, Cindy decided to pose for a different
kind of cover shoot, on the cover of Vanity Fair posing with the
"outed" K.D. Lang.
Named
the planet's highest paid model by Forbes magazine in 1995, Cindy
set out on more business ventures with her book, Cindy Crawford's
Basic Face: A Makeup Workbook.
She even
ventured into the movies (albeit unsuccessfully), in the 1995 film
Fair Game, co-starring Billy Baldwin.
Her personal
life has been nothing short of exciting. In December 1991, Cindy
and Richard Gere were married after a 4-year courtship. Although
People Magazine named the pretty woman and Pretty Woman star the
Sexiest Couple Alive, the couple divorced after 3 years of wedded
bliss.
After
allegedly being romantically linked to Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer,
Cindy finally became Mrs. Rande Gerber in 1998, and the mother of
their son, Presley Walker.
The epitome
of supermodel, Cindy has ventured into practically every field possible,
realizing that the lifespan of a model is relatively short. Also
a huge supporter of leukemia charities (her brother Jeff died from
the disease), Cindy has proved that a supermodel needs a lot more
than beauty to make it in the catty world of modeling; beauty, brawn
and personality are required -- and a million dollar mole can't
hurt either.
Cindy Crawford Filmography
Bodyguards - Guardie
del corpo (2000)--Se stessa
We Married Margo (2000)--Herself
The Simian Line (2000)--Sandra
Intimate Portrait: Cindy Crawford (1998) (TV)--Herself
Sex with Cindy Crawford (1998) (TV)--Host
54 (1998)--VIP Patron
Beautopia (1998)--Herself
Catwalk (1995)--Herself
Fair Game (1995)--Kate McQueen
Unzipped (1995) (uncredited)
House of Style (1989) TV Series--Host (1989-1995)
The Secret of My Succe$s(1987) (uncredited)--Cameo |
