Judit Mascó i Palau (Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, October 12, 1969) is a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 Catalan

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

 model, television host and writer from Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

.

Early career

Mascó grew up in a family of middle class

Middle class

The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

, daughter of a headmaster. She liked dressing up with her sister, using her mother's clothes. At age 15, began in the fashion world, which he combined with his piano lessons and school. Her big break however, was at age 13 in a television commercial. She began her studies as a model at the Francina International Modeling Agency

Francina International Modeling Agency

Francina International Modeling Agency was established in Barcelona in 1983 by the model Francina Díaz Mestre. With operations both in Spain and abroad, it is one of Spain's best modeling agencies.- History :...

's School. She was later signed to the agency and began modeling for print. Her modeling pursuits led her to Japan and Italy mainly.

International career

Mascó appeared in the 1990 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is published annually by Sports Illustrated. It features fashion models wearing swimwear in exotic locales. According to some, the magazine is the arbiter of supermodel succession. In addition, the issue is a media nexus that in 2005 carried in advertising....

 as the cover model. She also appeared in the 1991, 1992, 1994, and 1995 editions. This cover launched her worldwide and was quickly hired for various high-profile advertising campaigns, including Max Mara

Max Mara

MaxMara, or The House of MaxMara, is a luxury Italian fashion house known for its ready-to-wear clothing. Established in 1951 in Reggio Emilia by Achille Maramotti...

, Laurèl

Laurel

-Botany:* Laurel family , a group of flowering plants** Azores laurel ** Bay Laurel , also called True Laurel** California Laurel ** Camphor Laurel...

 by Escada

Escada

Escada is an international luxury fashion group in women's designer clothing. The company has a presence in about 60 different countries. Its main sales markets are North America, western and eastern Europe and Asia. It filed bankruptcy in August 2009, and was acquired by Megha Mittal, in November...

, Armand Bassi, Betty Barclay, Georges Rech, Mango

Mango (clothing)

Mango, stylized MANGO, is a clothing design and manufacturing company. Isak Andic is the president.Its goal is "to be present in every city" in the world...

, Majestic

Majestic

Majestic is one of the first alternate reality games , a type of game that blurs the line between in-game and out-of-game experiences. It debuted on July 31, 2001...

 and Palmers Lingerie. She kept been the face of a variety of advertising campaigns including Natura Bissé, El Corte Inglés

El Corte Inglés

El Corte Inglés S.A. , headquartered in Madrid, is the biggest department store group in Europe and ranks fourth worldwide...

, Clairol

Clairol

Clairol is a personal care products division of Procter & Gamble. The Clairol company was started in 1931 by Lawrence M. Gelb and wife, Joan, who named their enterprise after a hair-coloring preparation they found while traveling in France....

, Lancaster, Trident

Trident

A trident , also called a trishul or leister or gig, is a three-pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and was also a military weapon. Tridents are featured widely in mythical, historical and modern culture. The major Hindu god, Shiva the Destroyer and the sea god Poseidon or Neptune are...

, Fila

Fila (company)

Fila is one of the world's largest sportswear manufacturing companies. Founded in 1911 in Italy, Fila has been owned and operated from South Korea since a takeover in 2007. Headed by chairman and CEO Yoon-Soo Yoon, Fila now has offices in 11 countries worldwide....

, Clarins

Clarins

Clarins is a French cosmetics company specializing in skincare products and fragrances.The family company was founded in 1954 by the medical student Jacques Courtin-Clarins, who died in 2007...

 or Timotei

Timotei

Timotei is a Nordic shampoo brand owned by Unilever. The word Timotei comes from a wild grass called Timothy-grass. Timotei shampoo was launched in Sweden in the 1970s, and introduced to the world in the mid 1980s, but some countries only sold Timotei for a short period. The tagline was 'So mild...

. Mascó is also the only Spanish model (and with Penélope Cruz

Penélope Cruz

Penélope Cruz Sánchez is a Spanish actress. Signed by an agent at age 15, she made her acting debut at 16 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón , to critical acclaim...

 the only Spaniard woman) who has graced on the cover of US Vogue

Vogue (magazine)

Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...

. She has been featured in fashion spreads in most major fashion magazines including covers like French, Canadian, American, Spanish, Swedish and Italian Elle

Elle (magazine)

Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...

, Harper's Bazaar

Harper's Bazaar

Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...

, Cleo

Cleo (magazine)

CLEO is an Australian, New Zealand, South African, Malaysian, Singaporean, Thailand and Indonesian women's magazine.Aimed at an older audience than the teenage-focused Dolly, the magazine is known for its CLEO Bachelor of the Year award....

, Woman, Glamour

Glamour (magazine)

Glamour is a women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. Founded in 1939 in the United States, it was originally called Glamour of Hollywood....

, Marie Claire

Marie Claire

Marie Claire is a monthly women's magazine first published in France but also distributed in other countries with editions specific to them and in their languages. While each country shares its own special voice with its audience, the United States edition focuses on women around the world and...

, Sposabella, Telva, Ocean Drive

Ocean Drive

-Locations:*Ocean Drive Beach, a community in South Carolina that is now a part of the city of North Myrtle Beach*Streets:**Ocean Drive in South Beach, Miami, Florida...

, New Woman

New Woman

The New Woman was a feminist ideal that emerged in the late 19th century. The New Woman pushed the limits set by male-dominated society, especially as modeled in the plays of Norwegian Henrik Ibsen . "The New Woman sprang fully armed from Ibsen's brain," according to a joke by Max Beerbohm...

or Amica.

Mascó has worked with the most well-known photographers in the fashion industry in the 1990s, such as Hans Feurer, Gilles Bensimon

Gilles Bensimon

Gilles Bensimon is a fashion photographer and the former International Creative Director of Elle magazine. He has also been the photographer on the reality television series America's Next Top Model....

, Ellen Von Unwerth

Ellen von Unwerth

Ellen von Unwerth is a photographer and director, specializing in erotic femininity. She worked as a fashion model for ten years herself before moving behind the camera, and now makes fashion, editorial, and advertising photographs.Ellen von Unwerth found fame when she first photographed Claudia...

, Bruce Weber, Oliviero Toscani

Oliviero Toscani

Oliviero Toscani is an Italian photographer, best-known worldwide for designing controversial advertising campaigns for Italian brand Benetton, from 1982 to 2000...

, Steven Meisel

Steven Meisel

Steven Meisel is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex...

 (she does not keep a good memory of him after one of their jobs together for a cover try of Vogue (US)), Fabrizio Ferri, Albert Watson

Albert Watson

Albert William Watson was a South Carolina politician.Watson was born in Sumter, South Carolina and served in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He graduated from the University of South Carolina law school in 1950 and opened a law practice in the state capital, Columbia...

 or Patrick Demarchelier

Patrick Demarchelier

Patrick Demarchelier is a French fashion photographer.-Life:Born near Paris in 1943 to a modest family, he spent his childhood in Le Havre with his mother and four brothers. For his seventeenth birthday, his stepfather bought him his first Eastman Kodak camera...

 among others.
As a catwalk model she appeared in shows for major designers as Armani

Giorgio Armani

Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer, particularly noted for his menswear. He is known today for his clean, tailored lines. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, and by 2001 was acclaimed as the most successful designer to come out of Italy, with an annual turnover of $1.6 billion and a...

, Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana is an Italian luxury industry fashion house. The company was started by the Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in Milan, Italy. By 2005 their turnover was €597 million....

, Valentino

Valentino SpA

Valentino SpA is a clothing company founded in 1959 by Valentino Garavani. Nowadays it is a part of Valentino Fashion Group. New creative directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli will take Alessandra Facchinetti's seat as creative designer...

, Max Mara

Max Mara

MaxMara, or The House of MaxMara, is a luxury Italian fashion house known for its ready-to-wear clothing. Established in 1951 in Reggio Emilia by Achille Maramotti...

, Carolina Herrera

Carolina Herrera (fashion designer)

Carolina Herrera Carolina Herrera Carolina Herrera (born María Carolina Josefina Pacanins y Niño (born January 8, 1939) is a Venezuelan and naturalized American fashion designer and entrepreneur who founded her eponymous company in 1980.-Early life:...

, Escada

Escada

Escada is an international luxury fashion group in women's designer clothing. The company has a presence in about 60 different countries. Its main sales markets are North America, western and eastern Europe and Asia. It filed bankruptcy in August 2009, and was acquired by Megha Mittal, in November...

, Sportmax, Byblos

Byblos

Byblos is the Greek name of the Phoenician city Gebal . It is a Mediterranean city in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of present-day Lebanon under the current Arabic name of Jubayl and was also referred to as Gibelet during the Crusades...

, Loewe

Loewe (brand)

Loewe is a Spanish luxury clothing and accessories brand based in Madrid and is owned by the LVMH Group. Loewe is known around the world as being one of the very best when it comes to luxury leather goods.- History :...

 or Anne Klein

Anne Klein

Anne Klein was an American fashion designer who founded her own women's sportswear and apparel label.-Biography:Anne Klein was born as Hannah Golofski in a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York on August 3, 1923...

.

Modeling after 30

Mascó is regarded as one of the best Spanish models of the 1990s and still appears in print occasionally. She became the exclusive spokesmodel for the cosmetics brand Natura Bissé from 2004 until 2008. At the time she worked for Swarovski

Swarovski

Swarovski is the brand name for a range of precisely-cut crystal and related luxury products produced by Swarovski AG of Wattens, Austria...

 among others. In 2009 she signed for Olay

Olay

Olay is an American skin care line. It is one of the top skin care retail brands in the world, except for Japan, and is one of Procter & Gamble's multi-billion dollar brands. For the 2009 fiscal year ended June 30, Olay accounted for an estimated $2.8 billion of P&G's $79 billion in revenue.-Early...

.

Acting career

She played supporting roles in Después del sueño (After the Dream) and El largo invierno (The Long Winter of '39), two Spanish films from the early 90's and was ask to become a Bond girl

Bond girl

A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...

 and to star in A Walk in the Clouds

A Walk in the Clouds

A Walk in the Clouds is a 1995 American romantic drama film directed by Alfonso Arau. The screenplay by Robert Mark Kamen, Mark Miller, and Harvey Weitzman is based on the 1942 Italian film Four Steps in the Clouds by Piero Tellini, Cesare Zavattini, and Vittorio de Benedetti.-Plot:Shortly after...

(1995), although due to her busy schedule in fashion she turned down those offers.

Television career

Mascó's television career began collaborating in the fashion section of TV shows. She made several appearances in Spanish TV series as herself.
In 2006 and 2007, she hosted the reality television

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 show Supermodelo

Supermodelo

Supermodelo was a Spanish reality television show based on the American TV series America's Next Top Model which is broadcast on the Spanish television station Cuatro. Two seasons have already gone to air, and a third one began in April 2008...

in Cuatro TV

Cuatro TV

Cuatro is a Spanish commercial television channel, on air since November 2005. Owned by Mediaset España Comunicación, it is broadcast on the TV frequencies licensed to the previous owner Sogecable in 1990 and previously used by them for the analogue transmission of its pay-per-view channel...

.
She left the show the one season before it was canceled in 2008. That year she hosted the show "Els 25" (The 25) in TV3 (Catalonia)

TV3 (Catalonia)

TV3 is the primary television channel of Catalan public broadcaster Televisió de Catalunya, a subsidiary of the CCMA. TV3 broadcasts programs only in Catalan, with an optional dual track in the original language for some foreign-language series and movies...

.
Currently, Masco can be seen on television as the hostess of LA 2's TV show Actívate

Activate

Activate is an independent student newspaper at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa.- History :Activate was established in 1947 as Rhodeo, and during apartheid became an active part of the struggle for freedom of expression as part of the now defunct South African Student Press Union...

.

Awards

Mascó received the prestigious Elle

Elle (magazine)

Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...

 Woman of the Year

Woman of the Year

Woman of the Year is a romantic comedy film. The movie is about an emancipated woman, chosen "Woman of the Year", and her colleague-turned-husband and their efforts to negotiate a path to marital bliss....

 Award in 2003 and the Protagonistas

Protagonistas

"Protagonistas..." aka Protagonistas de Novela, Protagonistas de la Música, Protagonistas de la Fama is a Spanish language Reality Television franchise...

 Award in 2009 for her activism

Activism

Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...

.

Activism

Outside of TV, modeling, and writing, Mascó is involved in social change efforts. She is a board member of several international nongovernmental organizations such as the Vicente Ferrer

Vicente Ferrer

Vicente Ferrer may refer to:*Vicente Ferrer Moncho , Spanish former jesuit missionary* Vicente Ferrer Roselló , deputy and former senator in the Spanish parliament* Vincent Ferrer , saint...

 Foundation,the Asociación de Donantes de Riñón Españoles (Association of Spanish Kidney Donors), Amics de la Gent Gran(Friends of the Elderly) and the Caravana Solidaria al África Occidental (West Africa Solidarity Caravan). In addition she is the president of the Festival of Childhood and Youth, held in Barcelona and advisory board member of Oxfam

Oxfam

Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...

 Spain.
In 2000 she traveled to Florida to meet with Spanish citizen Joaquin José Martínez, at the time imprisoned in the death row

Death row

Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...

, to alert the media of an unfair death sentence

Death Sentence

Death Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...

 for two murders he did not commit. Her visit was due to a campaign of pressure from Spain. All the media coverage helped the conviction mistrial by the Florida Supreme Court that accepted to achieve the retrial of Martínez in which he was acquitted of all charges.

Writing

Mascó has written two books. In 2003, her self-described memoir, El Libro de Judit Mascó (Judit Mascó's book), was published. In 2009, she released her second book, Modelo (Model) in which she describes her job as a model and intends to guide young girls into this world.

Personal life

She is married to lawyer Eduardo Vicente and has four daughters, one of them an adopted girl from Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

.

External links

• Official website
• Judit Mascó at the Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...