Adriana Lima is a Brazilian supermodel born in 1982. Shown as one of the sexiest women in the world with her blue-gray, occasionally green eyes, black hair and shapely body, Lima is best known for her work with Victoria’s Secret.
Adriana Lima was born on June 12, 1981, in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, to a low-income and religious family. At the age of 13, she was discovered by a Native American tourist while shopping at a local store. At the age of 15, Lima was selected 1st in the Ford Supermodel of Brazil Model Search. She was the 2nd in the 1996 Ford Supermodel of the World Contest.
A short time later, Lima moved to New York thanks to Ford Modeling Agency and signed with Elite Model Management. Between 1997-1998, at the beginning of his career, he made fashion shoots for magazines such as Vogue and Marie Claire. He appeared in fashion shows of famous brands such as Lima, Christian Lacroix and Valentino. But Lima’s real big break came with the Vassarette billboard ad that was hung on the Times Square advert where she worked with her Dominican lover Alberto.
In 2000, she appeared in Guess’ Costanoa Campaign alongside such famous supermodels as Claudia Schiffer, Laetitia Casta and Eva Herzigova, and later became the advertising star of Maybelline, Bebe, Mossimo and BCBG. Having started to be on the cover of important magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar and Elle, Lima managed to become well-known by taking part in the Victoria’s Secret fashion show in 1998. After her lingerie show wearing angel wings with Heidi Klum and Gisele Bündchen, she also became the opening model of Victoria’s Secret fashion show in 2003.
In 2001, Adriana Lima starred in the 8:47 minute BMW short film alongside Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen and Forest Whitaker.
Lima, which was included in the limited edition Pirelli calendar in 2005, was ranked 1st in AskMen.com’s ‘Top 99 Women’ list in the same year, and 4th in 2006. Also in 2006, he was ranked 97th on Forbes.com’s ‘Highest Paid Celebrities’ list.
He helps care for poor children living in an orphanage and repairs the building at the ‘Caminhos da Luz’ (Ways of Light) orphanage in Bahia, where he was born in Lima. Speaking Portuguese, Spanish and English, Lima currently works with DNA Models Agency and has a bar in Mexico.
Adriana Lima married Serbian basketball player Marko Jarić, who played in the NBA, on February 14, 2009, in a ceremony attended by only his family and close circles in Wyoming, USA. On November 15, 2009, a daughter, Valentina Lima Jarić, was born, and on September 12, 2012, a second daughter, Sienna Lima Jarić, was born.
