Gemma Ward

In the world of cinema, there are many bankable actresses and headliners whose names sell. In the world of fashion, although the era of the Top Model has passed, some faces keep coming up: Daria, Raquel, Irina, Lily and Gemma are some of the returning guests on the runways. Here we open the ball with the Australian Gemma Ward.

At 19, an age where most of us have not yet begun to work, the Australian Ward can already retire. Since 2002, the young sylph from the Pacific has won over the major players in fashion one after the other.

Ward has already had a career worthy of one of the supermodels of the 1990s. She was discovered in a television beauty contest similar to "Elite Model Look." She had barely taken her first steps on the catwalks when her atypical, bewitching face seduced several modeling agencies.

She signed a contract with the prestigious American agency, IMG New York, a veritable stable of top models, including Gisele Bundchen, Trish Goff, and Lara Stone. Ward, who was passionate about acting, decided to put her plans aside temporarily in order to profit from the fairy tale lifestyle that was being presented to her on a silver tray.

If for some apprentice models the beginnings can be brutal, Ward seemed to slip through the net and was separated from the pack almost instantly. Anna Wintour selected her to be shot for Vogue U.S. and appear on the cover as an "It Girl," the first time that a model so young was chosen by the high priestess of fashion.

Ward has everything it takes to inspire the fashion planet. Fashion needs atypical models like her with her futuristic doll face that resembles no one else's to give a new twist to beauty.

Ward's Baby-Doll/Alien look provided a breath of helium for the designers who had become too accustomed to a group of smooth-looking, interchangeable models. She was quickly invited to all the shows, e.g., Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, Versace, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Gucci, and Marc Jacobs.

She knew how to change her appearance in order to best incarnate the designer's' concept. She could go from military for Hermès to femme fatale for Yves Saint Laurent to ambiguous for Prada. She reshaped her image from one ad campaign to the next to the point that her face never became too familiar.

She can easily represent multiple brands because she transforms herself according to the demands made on her. Recently, Calvin Klein made her the icon for his latest perfume, "Obsession Night."

Ward is not content to be only a model, however. She wants to return to her first love: acting. In 2001, before being discovered as a model, she played the Australian film Pink Pyjamas. She knows what she wants to be and her goal is not an unfounded desire. She loves to become someone else while making a film, like she is during photo sessions, except that in a film she can bring her character to life.

In fact, Ward attended the last Cannes Film Festival, not as an ambassador for some jewelry designer, but as an actress. She will be appearing in a Bryan Bertino horror film next July with Liv Tyler. In 2008, her true acting talent will show when she will play the role of the girlfriend of a young man dealing with his brother's autism in an Australian film by Elissa Down.

She was also casted by Toni Collette for The Black Balloon, a film that will probably be in numerous festivals and may attract attention. The actress-Gemma is already among the stars - last year, she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair in the arms of George Clooney.

It seems that Ward has been blessed by the gods. In order to pass the time waiting for her film premieres, come and see her on the Parisian catwalks.