Alessandra Corine Ambrσsio was born in a small town of Erexim,Brazil on April 11, 1981 to petrol station-owner parents. She is of Italian and Polish descent.[9][4] She was just eight years old when she decided she wanted to be a model, after seeing a picture of top covergirl Karen Mulder in a magazine. "I wanted to be like her," she recalls.[4] However, she felt insecure about her appearance, particularly of her large, obvious ears. So at 11, she had cosmetic surgery done to get her ears pinned back. Unfortunately, she had complications from the surgery for the two years following.[10] On 2006 The Tyra Banks Show, she admitted that the surgery had been a bad experience for her and that she is discouraged from having plastic surgery again.At 12 year old, she enrolled in modeling classes and began modeling for Dilson Stein at age 15.[11][4] Winning Brazil`s Elite Model Look started her modeling career.[12][1] Her first big modeling job was the cover of the Brazilian Elle magazine.[3] Elite passed along some of her Polaroids to GUESS? which led her to do the Millennium GUESS? campaign along with her friend and fellow Brazilian supermodel Ana Beatriz Barros, .[13] She has since been in huge demand, working with big-name brands including Revlon, Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, as well as the famed Pirelli Calendar, where she worked with her then boyfriend of 4 years, model Marcelo Boldrini.[14][4] As for fashion shows, she has walked the catwalks for designers such as Laura Biagiotti, Christian Lacroix, Byblos, Fendi, Issey Miyake, Kenzo, Christian Dior, Nicole Miller, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, Vivienne Westwood, Oscar de la Renta, among others.[11][4] She appeared in over 50 international magazine covers such as Cosmopolitan, ELLE, GQ, Harper`s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Ocean Drive, Vogue and the only model to appear on the cover of Glamour in the USA in 2006. [1][9]Ambrosio has made several television appearances, notably a cameo as herself on HBO’s Entourage along with Izabel Goulart; The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn; Late Night with Conan O’Brien; as guest judge on Project Runway season 2: Team Lingerie and The Tyra Banks Show where she was a guest twice. She appeared alongside TV personality, Regis Philbin in a hilarious worldwide commercial for Hummer H2. On 2006, she had a cameo on the box-office movie, James Bond: Casino Royale appearing 2 seconds as tennis girl #1.[1][15]She also has her own line of swimwear called Alessandra Ambrosio by Sais, a Brazilian swim wear brand.[11]Her best known collaboration is with American lingerie brand Victoria`s Secret. She appeared on the Victoria`s Secret Fashion Show for the first time in 2001, and continues to be a participant in the subsequent shows. Her most notable walk down the runway was in 2005 wearing lingerie entirely made out of candy. [16]In 2004, she was selected as the first spokesmodel for Victoria`s Secret PINK line.[9] She is currently a contract `Angel` and spokesmodel for Victoria`s Secret.[1] Her `Angel` status has brought her to the public`s attention being cited by the popular media as one of the world`s sexiest women. She ranked 5th on FHM 100 Sexiest Women 2007[17] and was chosen as one of People Magazine`s annual 100 Most Beautiful People in the World, in May 2007 along with fellow Victoria`s Secret Angels (Selita Ebanks, Adriana Lima, Izabel Goulart and Karolina Kurkova)[18]