21 February 2009

Gemma Ward, b 1987, Australia








I'm reading: Gemma Ward, b 1987, AustraliaTweet this! Posted by Katie Jane at 6:14 PM

1 comment:

  1. Katie JaneFebruary 21, 2009 at 6:53 PM

    Ward was born in Perth, Western Australia, as the second child of Gary and Claire Ward. Her older sister, Sophie Ward is also a model and she has younger twin brothers, Oscar and Henry Ward.

    As said herself in a Teen Vogue interview, she accompanied her friends to a modelling competition and ended up being scouted herself:

    I had come straight from my auntie and uncle's farm, and I was wearing this big gray barn jacket with mud all over it. When the scout came up to me, I said, 'No, thank you.' They forged my mum's signature [for mandatory parental consent], and pushed me in front of the cameras.

    Ward didn't win the competition, but Vivien's Model Agency picked her up after seeing a small picture of her in Kurv, a quarterly, internationally focused, Australian produced, fashion, arts, beauty, culture and style magazine.

    At only sixteen, Ward was the youngest model to be listed by American Vogue as one of the nine "It Girls" in the modeling world.

    She is the first model since Kate Moss to be the face for Calvin Klein's perfume "Obsession Night for Men" along with Philadelphia male model, Drew Keilt.

    British photographer Nick Knight stated, "Gemma is one of the very, very few models who look as though they come from another dimension."

    In Allure magazine (October 2006), Ward is described as "the model of the moment." Allure's creative director Paul Cavaco knows why: "We went through a period that was very va-va-voom, but now the pendulum has swung back. Gemma is ethereal, not earthy." Photographer Michael Thompson says, "She's an exotic blonde, the rarest of creatures."

    Ward appeared on the cover of the first issue of Vogue India; photographed by famed photographer Patrick Demarchelier. This is the second time Ward has appeared on an inaugural issue—the first time being the first-ever cover of Vogue China in 2005.

    Ward has long aspired to pursue acting and drama is a passion that she has held since she was a child. She starred alongside Toni Collette and Rhys Wakefield in Australian director Elissa Down's film The Black Balloon as the girlfriend of a boy whose brother has autism. The Black Balloon had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany in February 2008, where it received a Crystal Bear as the best feature-length film in the Generation 14plus category. She was also cast opposite Liv Tyler in the suspense thriller The Strangers as one of the three masked intruders, "Doll Face". She also appeared in the music video for "Daughters" by John Mayer.

    Ward lives in New York and is close friends with fellow models Lily Donaldson, Caroline Winberg, Daria Werbowy, and Lily Cole.

    In early 2008, Ward was reported to have been seeing actor Heath Ledger after media articles linked the two together at end of 2007 holiday celebrations, shortly before Ledger's untimely death of an accidental prescription drug overdose on January 22, 2008.

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