Nicole Trunfio

Trunfio was born on 16 March 1986 in Dubbo, New South Wales to father Giuseppe and mother Kim. She is the youngest of three siblings. Her father was of Italian descent and she says her Italian upbringing made her feel "more Italian than Australian growing up". She would ride dirt bikes and make Italian sausage, pasta sauce and wine with her grandparents. Trunfio grew up poor but never felt poor as "there was always food on the table and love in the household". When she was a child, her father played music around the house and "had every instrument around". She played piano growing up. Trunfio attended St. Mary's Primary School in Merredin, Western Australia. Later, she attended Parkfield Primary, and finally, attended Australind Senior High School in Australind, Western Australia. Sixteen-year-old Trunfio worked at Australian supermarket Coles, packing shelves before she dropped out of school in Year 11 to move to New York City after winning a modelling competition, with only 5,000 dollars in her bank account. She was going to come back to Australia and study law at university after she was told that a model had a five-year shelf life. However, she studied acting in New York City for three years and also attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney.Trunfio was the winner of the third installment of the Australian television series Supermodel of Australia in 2002 and came second in the international version Supermodel of the World. She has modelled for various Australian as well as international designers including Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Christian Dior, Gucci, Fendi, Missoni, Roberto Cavalli, Vivienne Westwood, Valentino, Victoria's Secret, Sweetface, and Neiman Marcus. She has appeared in campaigns for Karl Lagerfeld, D&G, Sonia Rykiel, Lacoste, Sisley, Anne Taylor, BCBG Max Azria, Chadwick's and Guess. Trunfio has worked with photographers such as Richard Avedon for Kenneth Cole campaign, Patrick Demarchelier for Harpers Bazaar, Steven Klein for D&G campaign, Peter Lindbergh for Italian Vogue, Terry Richardson for British Vogue, Greg Kadel, Melvin Sokosky, Russell James, and is the current face of Ulta. In 2006, Trunfio began several years of studying acting in New York City at Stella Adler Studio. She attended NIDA, and was featured in the Australian movie Two Fists, One Heart, playing the role of Italian temptress Jessica. She served as a mentor for the female models in the second season of the American version of Make Me a Supermodel. She was also a mentor for one of the three teams on the first season of The Face Australia. Trunfio replaced Miranda Kerr as the face of David Jones' winter 2011 launch. Trunfio is represented by IMG Models in New York City, Iconic Management in Berlin and Viviens Model Management in Australia.