Paulina Porizkova
Encyclopedia
Pavlína Pořízková-Ocasek (born (ˈpavliːna ˈpor̝iːskovaː) on 9 April 1965) is a Czech model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

 and actress. At the age of eighteen years, she became the first woman from Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

 to grace the cover of the Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

swim-suit 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....

. She was the second woman (after Christie Brinkley
Christie Brinkley
Christie Brinkley is an American model and actress best known for her three consecutive appearances on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in the late 1970s and early 1980s, for her long-running contract with CoverGirl, the longest ever of any model in history, and for her marriage...

) to be featured on the swim-suit issue's front cover consecutive times (1984 and 1985). Czech pronunciation is pavleena po-zhes-kaw-va:.

Early life

Born in Prostějov
Prostejov
Prostějov is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. Today the city is known for its fashion industry and special military forces based there....

, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

, Pavlína Pořízková was still a toddler
Toddler
A toddler is a young child, usually defined as being between the ages of one and three. Registered nurse, midwife and author, Robin Barker, states 'Any time from eight months onwards your baby will begin to realise he is a separate person from you...

 when her parents left Czechoslovakia, fleeing the Warsaw Pact invasion
Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
On the night of 20–21 August 1968, the Soviet Union and her main satellite states in the Warsaw Pact – Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic , Hungary and Poland – invaded the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in order to halt Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring political liberalization...

 in 1968, and moved to Lund
Lund
-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...

, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, leaving young Paulina in the care of her grandmother in Czechoslovakia, believing that their daughter could be brought out later.

However, the Czechoslovakian authorities would not allow this, and the ensuing battle for Pořízková was widely publicized in the Swedish press, making her a cause célèbre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...

. After a failed rescue attempt, in which her mother was detained by the national police, international political pressure led by Olof Palme
Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...

 caused the communist government to allow the Pořízek family to be reunited after seven years. Pořízková acquired Swedish citizenship. The reunion was soon ended when Pořízková's father left the family, and her parents filed for divorce. Pořízková and her father have been estranged since.

This left Pořízková's mother to fund her own medical issues, and Pořízková and her brother Jáchym Pořízek (who was born in Czechoslovakia during her mother's house arrest) to look after themselves, including having to steal bread to have something to eat.

Modeling

An aspiring photographer friend took pictures of Pořízková and sent them to the Elite modeling agency
Elite Model Management
Elite Model Management is a large modeling agency based in New York and Paris. It is a subsidiary of Elite World S.A.-History:Founded in France in 1972 by John Casablancas and Alain Kittler, it was rebought in 1990 by Nicholas Farrae. Elite World S.A. is the parent company of Elite Model...

 in 1980, hoping they would notice her own photography skills. However, instead of taking the photographer on board, Elite head John Casablancas noticed Pořízková's physical beauty and potential, and offered her a ticket to Paris. At 5 feet 11 inches (180 cm), she was the perfect height for a fashion model.

She quickly rose to become a top model in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 during the early 1980s, and her fame spread to the United States when she posed in swimwear for Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

. She appeared on the cover of the 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....

 in 1984 and again in 1985 (her first appearance as a model in the magazine was in 1983). She appeared on the cover of Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

magazine in August 1987 to preview her new (non-nude) swimsuit calendar. Both of her calendars in 1988 and 1989 by photographer Marco Glaviano
Marco Glaviano
Marco Glaviano is a reputable figure in the fashion industry as a premier photographer who has been sought after by famous supermodels such as Cindy Crawford, Paulina Porizkova, and Eva Herzigova. He has been the leading pioneer of digital photography and was the first to publish the first ever...

 sold hundreds of thousands of copies.

Pořízková was chosen twice by People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...

as one of the Fifty Most Beautiful People in the world, in 1990 and 1992. 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.”...

named her one of its ten most beautiful women in 1992. American Photo in its first issue declared her to be the model of the 1980s. She appeared on the covers of numerous magazines around the world during the 1980s and 1990s, including 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...

, 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.”...

, Self
Self (magazine)
Self magazine is an American magazine for women that specializes in health, fitness, nutrition, beauty and happiness. Published by Condé Nast Publications 12 times a year, it has a circulation of 1,486,992 and a total audience of 5,541,000 readers, according to its corporate media kit. The...

, Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...

and 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....

. She was also featured in advertising for Diet Sprite. Pořízková was the cover model for the 20th Anniversary issue of Cosmopolitan magazine in November 1985.

In 1988, Pořízková won what was then the highest-paying modeling contract: a six million dollar
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

 contract with Estée Lauder
Estée Lauder Companies
Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. is a manufacturer and marketer of prestige skincare, makeup, fragrance and hair care products. The company has its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.-History:...

 cosmetics, replacing the model Willow Bay
Willow Bay
Willow Bay is an American television correspondent, editor, author, former model, and wife of Walt Disney Company CEO Robert Iger. She is currently a Senior Editor for the Huffington Post and a special correspondent for Bloomberg Television.-Career:Bay was born Kristine Carlin Bay in New York, New...

. The black-and-white television and print advertising campaign won praise from critics. The Estée Lauder makeover transformed Pořízková's public image from a swimsuit model to that of European sophisticate and she remained the company's face until 1995. She was presented on the November 1999 Millennium cover of American 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...

as one of the "Modern Muses".

Pořízková's photos appeared in the books Models and Sirens, by Marco Glaviano, and in Fashion Photography by 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...

. The latter includes some of the noted LIFE magazine swimsuit pictures from several years ago. She was in Women by Herb Ritts
Herb Ritts
Herbert "Herb" Ritts was an American fashion photographer who concentrated on black-and-white photography and portraits, often in the style of classical Greek sculpture.-Early life and career:...

.

After having her first baby in 1993, Pořízková devoted less time to modeling, and she moved into acting in independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

s. She soon got a new contract as the lead model for 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...

. In early 2001, she was the hostess for a television show on the E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...

 network's Style Channel.

Television work

She was part of the panel of judges on America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....

, starting on Cycle 10
America's Next Top Model, Cycle 10
America's Next Top Model, Cycle 10 was the tenth cycle of America's Next Top Model and the fourth season to be aired on The CW network...

 replacing the fashion icon, Twiggy
Twiggy
Lesley Lawson née Hornby known as Twiggy is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early-1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree....

. Porizkova continued to conduct regular weekly evaluations of Top Model participants on the show until she announced she'd been fired from Top Model during a 12 May 2009 appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is a Peabody Award-winning American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish American comedian Craig Ferguson. Ferguson, the third regular host of the Late Late Show franchise, follows Late Show with David Letterman in the CBS late-night lineup...

on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

. Though Pořízková maintained she was told by producers that she had an "ego problem", especially when she "consistently complained" about Tyra Banks' " lateness to the set, ATM executive producer Ken Mok as well as Tyra Banks released a statement saying her firing was due to "The current state of the economy", forcing ATM to "make major budget cuts...unfortunately, Paulina was a casualty of these cuts." When questioned by ABC's Cynthia McFadden about the firing of Porizkova as well as former ATM colleague, Janice Dickinson, both of whom have complained Banks is "difficult", Tyra Banks refused to address the issue.

Pořízková was a participant on the Spring 2007 series Dancing with the Stars
Dancing with the Stars (US TV series)
Dancing with the Stars is a reality show airing on ABC in the United States, and CTV in Canada in 2011. The show is the American version of the British BBC television series Strictly Come Dancing...

, but she was voted off on the first results show which aired 27 March 2007. In January 2010, she played the minor role of Clarissa, in the CBS Daytime
CBS Daytime
CBS Daytime is a television programming block on CBS. It's the branding for the CBS Television Network's late morning and early afternoon programming. The block has historically encompassed soap operas, game shows, and talk shows...

 soap opera, As The World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...

.

Acting

Pořízková's film debut was in the 1983 modeling mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...

, Portfolio. Only 17 years old, she managed to look more mature and intelligent than the other more-established models, and became "covergirl" for the film. She appeared in the 1987 film Anna, receiving good reviews from her patrons at Vogue magazine. It was in 1989 that she had her largest, and best-known role to date, co-starring with Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck
Thomas William "Tom" Selleck is an American actor, and film producer. He is best known for his starring role as Hawaii-based private investigator Thomas Magnum on the 1980s television show Magnum, P.I.. He also plays Police Chief Jesse Stone in a series of made-for-TV movies based on the Robert B....

 (who was rumored to not get along with her at all) in the film Her Alibi
Her Alibi
Her Alibi is a 1989 American romantic comedy directed by Bruce Beresford, written by Charlie Peters, and starring Paulina Porizkova, Tom Selleck, and William Daniels.-Plot summary:...

. However, she was nominated for a Golden Raspberry for worst actress for her appearance in the film.

Pořízková appeared in Emir Kusturica
Emir Kusturica
Emir Nemanja Kusturica , is a Serbian filmmaker, actor and musician, recognized for several internationally acclaimed feature films...

's 1993 film Arizona Dream
Arizona Dream
Arizona Dream is a 1993 film directed by Emir Kusturica and starring Johnny Depp, Jerry Lewis and Faye Dunaway.-Plot:Axel has a dream about an Eskimo who catches a rare halibut and brings it back to his family in an igloo...

, with Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...

 and Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...

, in a minor role as Lewis's young Polish fiancee. She turned down an opportunity to be 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"...

 in the 1995 film GoldenEye
GoldenEye
GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming...

because of better earnings available to her in modeling at the time, as well as not wishing to take time away from her family. In 1998 she featured in the film Thursday
Thursday (1998 film)
Thursday is a 1998 American crime/thriller/black comedy movie written and directed by Skip Woods.-Plot:Casey Wells has cleaned up his life. He is now a married architect and is looking to adopt a child with his wife when Nick , an old partner from his days as a drug dealer in Los Angeles, shows up...

.

She also appeared in a 6th season episode of Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...

, Chromolume No. 7
Chromolume No. 7
Chromolume No. 7 is the 128th episode of the ABC television series Desperate Housewives. It is the seventeenth episode of the show's sixth season and aired on March 14, 2010. This episode gathered 12.01 million Americans according to Nielsen Media Research....

 alongside model Heidi Klum
Heidi Klum
Heidi Samuel , better known by her birth name Heidi Klum, is a German model, actress, television host, businesswoman, fashion designer, television producer, and occasional singer. In 2008 she became an American citizen while maintaining her native German citizenship...

.

Pořízková wrote and directed the 2001 film, Roommates. In 2004, she starred in the romantic comedy Knots
Knots (film)
Knots is a comedy film written by Greg Lombardo and Neil Turitz. Directed by Lombardo, the film was screened at the Gen Art Film Festival in 2004 and premiered on cable television in 2005...

. Her recent television work includes an 18 April 2007 appearance on The Colbert Report after remarks that she found Colbert "extremely attractive." She most recently appeared on the Starz comedy series Head Case which aired on 24 April 2009.

Writing

Pořízková co-authored a children's book, The Adventures of Ralphie the Roach (ISBN 978-0385424028) with Joanne Russell and illustrated by stepson Adam Ocasek, that was published in September 1992.

She published her first novel, A Model Summer (ISBN 978-1401303266; Modellsommar in Swedish), in 2007. It is about a 15-year-old Swedish girl (Jirina) chosen by a modeling agent to spend a summer working in Paris in 1980.

Pořízková is currently a blogger for Modelinia and the Huffington Post.

Personal life

On 23 August 1989, Pořízková married Ric Ocasek
Ric Ocasek
Ric Ocasek is an American musician and music producer. He is best known as lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the rock band, The Cars....

, lead singer for the rock band The Cars
The Cars
The Cars are an American rock band that emerged from the early New Wave music scene in the late 1970s. The band consisted of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson...

. They had first met in 1984 during the filming of The Cars' music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 "Drive" (directed by Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...

) in which she stars. Pořízková was 19 years of age and Ocasek was already married at that time. The couple have two children.

Pořízková is the subject of the song "Friends of P" by The Rentals
The Rentals
The Rentals are an American rock band fronted by vocalist Matt Sharp, best known as the former bass player for rock group Weezer. The band is best known for their mid-1990s hit single, "Friends of P.". The group has released two albums, Return of the Rentals and Seven More Minutes on Maverick...

 on their 1995 album Return of the Rentals, written by lead singer Matt Sharp
Matt Sharp
Matthew Kelly Sharp is a founding member and former bassist for the band Weezer. In 1994, he started a band called The Rentals and released their debut album shortly after Weezer's first release, their second album in 1999, and an EP in 2007...

. She is also the subject of the song "Paulina" on No Doubt
No Doubt
No Doubt is an American rock band from Anaheim, California that formed in 1986. The ska-pop sound of their first album No Doubt , failed to make an impact...

's eponymous first album.

See also


External links

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