Elisa Sednaoui

She recently played the role of Laura in Christopher Thompson's first film, Bus Palladium. The rebellious Elisa Sednaoui, whose enchanting face and long physique had already caused a sensation in the 2007 H&M ads, seems to be following the path of those rare models who succeed in marrying modeling and acting careers.

With her cat-like regard and chiseled face, Sednaoui possesses that charismatic beauty that makes heads turn and gets casting directors excited. It was not surprising that Thompson, who was looking for a young woman capable of making two boys fall in love at the same time, considered her an obvious choice.

Bus Palladium may have given viewers the chance to judge Sednaoui's acting ability, but it was not her first experience in front of the camera. She played in the short film Fox Bay as well as in Not Before, Not After, an independent film presented in Berlin.

Model, actress, globe-trotter... at barely 22, she already has an intriguing resume.

Daughter of an architect living in Egypt, Sednaoui was brought up in a cosmopolitan atmosphere from a very young age. Her parents, encouraging her open mindedness, taught her several languages. Her parents' divorce led the adolescent Sednaoui to live in France with her mother. Born in Italy, having grown up in Luxor, then in Europe, Sednaoui caught the travel bug at a young age.

A precocious polyglot accustomed to adapting to different environments, she had no difficulty leaving France for New York, the veritable El Dorado for future models, when she was only 16.

In 2007, she signed with One Model Management and appeared shortly after in the H&M ad campaign. After, her athletic figure and high cheekbones drew the attention of the Victoria's Secret talent scouts who quickly added her to the label's dream team.

Sednaoui does not aspire to monopolizing the catwalks, however. She was happy to make several appearances, notably for D&G in 2008, but she does not seem made for the shows. She shone more in the magazines, whether on the cover of l'Officiel (August 2008), in the ads for Love Moschino and Diesel, or in fashion editorials for Marie Claire Italy and Vogue Germany (2009).

She may have been very professional and appreciated the advantages of modeling (among others, the traveling), but she would not have been content with only this for long. Sednaoui may be able to boast about being courted by Chanel, but she still dreams of having multiple careers. She has revealed that in an ideal world, she would be an actress as well as a model, a director and a photographer.

She likes nothing more than waking up in her family home in Luxor. She seems to the luck and independence necessary to make her dreams come true. Her first attempts at photography will be presented shortly in her New York apartment (and judging by her fetish photographer, Hedi Slimane, they will probably be focused on the strength and truth of the image), and she will appear in Vogue Paris, her favorite magazine.

Meanwhile, Sednaoui goes between being calm (she is a yoga fan) and very enthusiastic about her career. Her ambitions remain very healthy - to find her path, make those around her happy and always be able to dream.