Alessandra Ambrosio Biography

Alessandra Ambrosio’s path from bright-eyed trend-follower to beautiful trend-setter started at age 8 when she engaged in regular model dress-up sessions with her sister. A young admirer of beauties like Kate Moss and Helena Christensen, Alessandra Ambrosio was also a fan of Karen Mulder and after seeing the model on a magazine cover, she knew exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up. Within a few years, Alessandra Ambrosio was taking classes in modeling, but her teenage insecurities temporarily got the better of her. While her skinny frame lent itself to a model’s body, she felt that her ears were too prominent and went under the knife to “fix” them. Complications resulted two years later, but fortunately, they didn’t derail her pursuit of a modeling career.

At age 15, Alessandra Ambrosio bravely entered the 1996 Look of the Year Competition, which was presented by the Elite Modeling Agency. She didn’t emerge victorious, but just a year later, the agency came back to offer her a professional contract, anyway. Following her first magazine covers for Elle (Brazil), Marie Claire (Brazil) and Harper’s Bazaar, Alessandra Ambrosio hit pay dirt in 1999 as a hired gun on a campaign for Calvin Klein Jeans and a Paris and New York runway model for Christian Lacroix and Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti.