Heidi Klum

Heidi Klum (pronounced [ˈhaɪdiː ˈklʊm]; born 1 June 1973) is a German and American model, television personality, actress, producer, and businesswoman. She appeared on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 1998 and was the first German model to become a Victoria's Secret Angel.

Following a successful modeling career, Klum became the host and a judge of the reality shows Project Runway (2004–2017, 2025–present) and Germany's Next Topmodel (2006–present). For her work on Project Runway, she earned an Emmy nomination in 2008 and a win in 2013 for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program (shared with co-host Tim Gunn). Klum has also served as a judge on the NBC reality show America's Got Talent (2013–2018, 2020–2024). She has been nominated for six Emmy Awards.

As an occasional actress, Klum has had supporting roles in movies including Blow Dry (2001) and Ella Enchanted (2004), and made cameo appearances in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Perfect Stranger (2007) and Ocean's 8 (2018). She has also made guest appearances on television shows including Sex and the City (2001), How I Met Your Mother (2007), Desperate Housewives (2010), and Parks and Recreation (2013).

Klum has worked as a spokesmodel for Dannon and H&M and has appeared in numerous commercials for McDonald's, Volkswagen, and others. In 2009, she became Barbie's official ambassador on Barbie's 50th anniversary. In May 2011, Forbes magazine estimated Klum's total earnings for that year as US$20 million. She was ranked second on Forbes' list of the "World's Top-Earning Models". Forbes noted that since ending her 13-year run as a Victoria's Secret Angel, Klum has become more of a businesswoman than a model. In 2008, she became an American citizen while maintaining her native German citizenship. ^{[check quotation syntax]}

Klum was born and raised in Bergisch Gladbach, a city near Cologne, West Germany. She is the daughter of Erna Klum, a hairdresser, and Günther Klum, a cosmetics company executive. A friend convinced her to enroll in a national modeling contest called "Model 92". Out of 25,000 contestants, Klum was voted the winner on 29 April 1992, and she was offered a modeling contract worth US$300,000 by Thomas Zeumer, CEO of Metropolitan Models New York. After winning, she appeared on the Gottschalk Late Night Show, a German television show with host Thomas Gottschalk. She accepted the contract a few months later, after graduating from school, and decided not to try for an apprentice position at a fashion design school.

Klum has been featured on the cover of French, German, Portuguese and Spanish Vogue magazines, as well as Elle, InStyle, Marie Claire, Glamour and Russian Harper's Bazaar magazines. She became widely known after appearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and for her work with Victoria's Secret as an "Angel". Klum hosted the 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows.

In addition to working with well-known photographers on her first husband's Sports Illustrated shoots, she was the object and subject of Joanne Gair body painting works in several editions from 1997 to 2010. She wrote the foreword to Gair's book of body paint work, Body Painting, Masterpieces. Other magazine's covers include GQ, Cosmopolitan, Photo, Glamour, Stuff, Joy, Esquire, Max, Men's Journal, Time and Shape.

Klum's modeling work includes advertising campaigns for brands like Pringle of Scotland, Liz Claiborne and – alongside fellow German supermodels Nadja Auermann, Veruschka von Lehndorff and Tatjana Patitz – for the New York jersey label Kathleen Madden. Beauty campaigns include makeup brands Bobbi Brown and Astor, as well as Givenchy's Amarige fragrance. She also appeared in special ad campaigns by designers like Marc Jacobs (Protect The Skin You′e In to raise awareness for skin cancer) and Jean-Paul Gaultier (summer tote in collaboration with and to benefit amfAR). Her runway appearances include numerous Victoria's Secret Annual Fashion Shows, walking for various designers and brands of New York Fashion Week like Zac Posen (2004), Escada, Vera Wang, Structure, Victor Alfaro, Imitation Of Christ as well as working the catwalk for Philip Treacy at Brown Thomas International Fashion Show in Dublin.