Gisele Bundchen

Gisele Caroline Bündchen, a sixth-generation German Brazilian, was born on 20 July 1980 in Horizontina, Rio Grande do Sul, to Vânia Nonnenmacher; died January 28, 2024, in Porto Alegre, a Mathematics graduate, a bank clerk and Valdir Bündchen, a sociologist, economist and writer. Her grandfather, Walter Bündchen, once served as mayor of Horizontina. She grew up with five sisters, Raquel, Graziela, her fraternal twin Patrícia, Gabriela and Rafaela. The family is Catholic. Although her parents speak German and Bündchen learned German in school, she no longer speaks the language. Besides her native Portuguese, she speaks English, Italian, Spanish and French.

Bündchen aspired to be a volleyball player, but in 1993 her mother enrolled her and sisters Patrícia and Gabriela in a modeling course to teach them confidence and better posture. After the course ended, the girls were rewarded by a trip to Curitiba, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where she was discovered by Elite Model Management at a shopping center. Bündchen was placed second in a national contest, Elite Model Look, that was then known as Look of the Year. In 1995, Bündchen moved to São Paulo to launch her modeling career. She debuted at New York Fashion Week in 1996.