Heidi Klum

Heidi Klum (IPA /klʊm/) (born June 1, 1973) is a German supermodel, actress, TV presenter, fashion designer, television producer and singer from Bergisch Gladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. She is best known as the hostess of Project Runway.

Early Life and Discovery

Klum was raised by her parents, Günther (a cosmetics company executive) and Erna (a hairdresser) in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, a small city outside of Cologne. In 1991, a friend encouraged Klum to enter the modeling contest Model '92, the finals of which aired on the German talk show Gottschalk Late Night. Out of 25,000 contestants, Klum was voted the winner on April 29, 1992 and was offered a modeling contract worth US$300,000. She accepted the contract a few months later after graduating from school and deciding not to try for an apprentice position at a fashion design school.

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 widely known after appearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and for her work with Victoria's Secret. She has been a spokesmodel for McDonald's, Braun, H & M, and Liz Claiborne, among others. She is currently the latest celebrity spokesmodel for Jordache. 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 cameo appearances in The Devil Wears Prada and Perfect Stranger.

In July 2007, having earned an estimated $8 million in the previous, 12 months Forbes named her third in the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels.

Project Runway
Project Runway season three finalist Laura Bennett interviews Klum and Seal at the 59th Emmy Awards.
Project Runway season three finalist Laura Bennett interviews Klum and Seal at the 59th Emmy Awards.

In December 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 received an Emmy Awards nomination for the show for each of the first three seasons[8].

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, jewellery 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 jewellery 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 official website.

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

Germany's Next Topmodel 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. Klum is the host and co-producer of the show along with model Tyra Banks. The first season or "cycle" of the show was won by Lena Gercke and the second cycle was won by Barbara Meier.

Other
Heidi Klum's debut single "Wonderland."
Heidi Klum's debut single "Wonderland."

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.

In 2004, Klum co-authored Heidi Klum's Body of Knowledge with Elle magazine editor Alexandra Postman. The book gives Klum's biography as well as her advice on becoming successful. Prior to that, Klum had been an occasional guest columnist for the German television network RTL's website. She has also written an essay for the German newspaper Die Zeit.

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 Wanderland.

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.