Helena Christensen Biography

Helena Christensen is certainly one of the leading supermodels of the 1990's. She has had one of the most diverse careers of those belonging to this elite group familiar to most everyone. A veteran of the fashion runways and trade magazines, Helena is still one of the most in-demand models.

The leaders of the fashion world have endlessly showered praise about Helena's captivating looks. The late designer Gianni Versace said she has the most beautiful body. Karl Lagerferld described her as possessing a figure type that's very rare. Nobody has better legs. John Galliano comments, she fills clothes with life and fire.

Her great success has allowed Helena to be more selective about her work. However, it is for her work for Victoria's Secret that she is perhaps best known to most. She appears regularly in eveyone's favorite lingere company's catalogs, as well as in televised ad campaigns, alongside other Victoria's Secret models like Yasmeen Ghauri.

In addition to these more traditional modeling opportunities, Helena has also worked in various film and television projects. These include: the MTV fashion show Fashionably Loud, the 1992 independent film Inferno, and Chris Isaak's hit music video Wicked Game.

Born on Christmas day in 1968 to a Danish father and Peruvian mother, Helena grew up in Denmark. Her childhood interests included music and photography. In 1986 she was selected as Miss Denmark and competed in the Miss Universe pageant. Following this experience, Helena left her home for Paris at the age of 18 to pursue a modeling career. There she excelled immediately, after a shoot for Elle Magazine. A cover shoot by Peter Lindbergh for Vogue followed, and within a short period, Helena was getting prominent contracts from leading designers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Helena soon gained further media attention through her relationship with rocker Michael Hutchence. She was frequently spotted with the late lead singer of INXS in the pages of the tabloids.

However, while Hutchence's career was declining, Helena's was quickly rising. For whatever reasons, the two grew apart after several years and went their separate ways before Hutchence's death. Helena was later linked with actor Leonardo DiCaprio and singer Billy Corgan in the gossip columns.

Following those rumored relationships, she dated writer/photographer Peter Makebisch. Though they too have since broken up, she apparently left quite a mark on Mr. Makebisch, as his arm bears a tattoo of the Danish supermodel.

One of Helena's career highlights interestingly occurred outside of the normal modeling world. She was cast in 1991 for the video Wicked Game, Chris Isaac's single. The haunting song tells the tale of love gone bad. The video was shot on the dark sands and surf of Hawaii. Though she naturally was given no speaking lines, Helena plays the woman who wrongs Isaak. In the video she frolics along the beach, while Isaak croons about their love affair nearby.

Helena removes her bikini top in the water, and starts tantalizing him. The two embrace and proceed to roll around in the sand together. The song fades to a mellow ending, as she gets up and runs off into the distance. Wicked Game is still regularly aired on music channels, and was recently selected as the Sexiest Video of All-Time by MTV.

Recently Helena has been seen prominently on American television in ads for the lingerie company Victoria's Secret. As one of their signature Angels, she shot several commercials with fellow models Stephanie Seymour, Karen Mulder, Daniela Pestova, and Tyra Banks. The spots were generally very goofy and the script involving a lame premise such as singer Tom Jones arriving in heaven and being greeted by the angels. However, we must remember that it is pure eye candy, so we can't really ask for Oscar caliber performances!

Helena maintains residences in New York, Monaco, and her native Copenhagen. She turns up every so often in the New York social-life columns as having attended events such as fundraisers, show openings, or movie premieres. Among her closest friends are fellow models Claudia Schiffer, Carla Bruni, Karen Mulder, and Eva Herzigova.

In an interview she listed that some of her interests including painting, photography, interior decorating, and Rock music. She also stated that real life starts when I stop being a model and described having a family as a future goal. But for now she remains a supermodel, much to the delight of fans around the world.