Vendela Kirsebom
Born	January 12, 1967 Stockholm, Sweden

Vendela Maria Kirsebom (born January 12, 1967) is a Swedish/Norwegian model and actress.

Early life and career

Born in Stockholm, Sweden to a Norwegian mother and a Turkish father. She has no contact with her biological father and has never been to his homecountry, Turkey. At the age of thirteen, Kirsebom was discovered in Stockholm, by Eileen Ford herself, while eating in a restaurant with her parents. When 18, she graduated from the Rudolf Steiner School and moved to Italy to pursue a career in modeling under the guidance of the famous Ford Models. After a contract with Elizabeth Arden, Kirsebom moved to the US where she began working as Almay's spokesperson.

Companies represented

Kirsebom has since had a very successful career. The companies she has represented include Elizabeth Arden, Revlon Lasting fragrance, Lay's, Barbour, Diesel, Hanes, JH Collectibles, Lipton, Mikimoto, and Victoria's Secret.

Her model agency in Sweden are Mikas and in U.S. Ford Models.

She also was the model in 'The Parent Trap'

Magazine cover, film and television appearances

She has appeared on the magazine covers of Bride's (USA), Flare (Canada), Shape (USA), FHM (UK), and Zest (USA) and has been featured multiple times in the pages of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She has acted in some television shows and films, such as Batman and Robin(1997). Vendela was also featured on the Disney Channel movie, "Model Behavior" along with Justin Timberlake and Maggie Lawson. She appeared as herself on an 1995 episode of Murphy Brown and the 2005 TV movie sequel Romy and Michele: In the Beginning. She also has lent her voice to a character on Johnny Bravo.In 1999, she was the hostess of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen 1999. Kirsebom is currently the host of the reality show Norway's Next Top Model 2nd cycle and Sweden's Next Top Supermodel 4th cycle. She also made an appearance in an episode of the 10th season of America's Next Top Model, judging the posing challenge with instructor Benny Ninja.

Personal life

In 1996, she married the Norwegian politician Olaf Thommessen, a Roman Catholic of French and Norwegian descent, and later moved to Oslo, where the couple lives today with their two daughters, Julia and Hannah. They separated in 2007 after 11 years of marriage.

Kirsebom still is a very active figure in the international model community, and also acts as goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.

External links

• Vendela Kirsebom at the Internet Movie Database
• Vendela Kirsebom's profile in the FMD-database
• (Swedish) Aftonbladet. Jag vet inget om min pappa 2006-12-11
• (Swedish) Aftonbladet. Vi måste alla hjälpa barn 2001-06-18