Amber Valletta

There are models who attempt to recycle their career in the movies and lose their catwalk credibility; there are others who succeed at it brilliantly. This is the case of Amber Valletta who will be premiering in Premonition next August, and who has no less than three films in production for 2008. Wife, mother, actress and model, the beautiful Valletta has scored a perfect grand slam.

Valletta's first dream was not to become a model, however, nor an actress. She grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and wanted to become an ethnologist or sociologist, working with the people and helping them live better lives. Her mother, however, aware of her daughter's uncommon beauty, registered her in a modeling agency when she was 15.

Her face intrigued, and her physique seduced. Her first job was for a photo session for Vogue Italy; then her career took off with her first Elle cover. She moved to Paris to better respond to her ever-increasing job offers.

The biggest photographers wanted to work with her. She posed for de Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Peter Lindbergh and Steven Meisel, just to name a few. She participated in prestigious ad campaigns, e.g., Prada, Versace, Calvin Klein and Valentino. She was also the face of Elisabeth Arden.

She started receiving offers for movie roles. She appeared with Harrison Ford in What Lies Beneath and in the comedy, Duplex. It was not until 2005 and her role in Hitch in which she co-starred with Will Smith, that she was really introduced to the general public. She proved that she was an actress as well as top model, and not a model who wanted to try acting.

Amber Valletta has succeeded in all areas:

• Family: she is the happy mother of a 7-year-old boy and fulfilled wife of volleyball player Christian McCaw (she divorced Hervé Le Bihan and her ex-es include the famous Leonardo DiCaprio)
• Modeling: she was recently seen walking for Dior during the Versailles Haute Couture show in July
• Acting: in addition to Premonition where she co-stars with Sandra Bullock coming out in August, she has three other films coming out soon, including Man About Town with Ben Affleck, the horror film Dead Silence, and My Sexiest Year in which she appears with her colleague, Karoline Kurkova who will be taking her first steps in front of the movie camera.

Valletta says she hates waiting. If a movie location is far from Hollywood, she prefers to spend the night in the train rather than postpone the meeting time. A bit hyperactive, she has not forgotten her earlier career goals and has organized galas and other fundraising events for families in distress.

She is deeply invested in protecting the environment and would have liked to go back to school to better understand the topic, but she does not have the time. She is currently preparing for a physical role that is highly demanding. Nevertheless, she says she loves to get into character, and if that means gaining three kilograms (over 6 pounds) of muscle, she will do it with pleasure.

One annoying detail: she is one of those women who looks good in anything. Last May, she exchanged her ash blond hair for chocolate brown, a choice that would have looked horrible on almost any other woman, but which rendered her angelic face and cat-like regard even more beautiful.