Vanessa Hessler
A supermodel, in the big screen as in real life. This is just what the Italian-American Vanessa Hessler is. A beautiful, famous and very talented Italian fashion model and protagonist of the Italian movie “Sotto il vestito niente, l’ultima sfilata”. Tall, blond and with blue eyes, she doesn’t really represent the classical Mediterranean beauty, but she’s actually an important representative of Italian supermodels in the world.
Vanessa was born in Rome in 1988, but at the age of 8 she moved to Washington DC, the native town of her father. The angelic Italian model’s destiny was tied to her home country, though. It was after she had come back to Italy, indeed, that the talent scout (and her current manager) Mario Gori noticed this beautiful 15-year-old girl walking down the Roman streets. Her life changed from that very moment.
This unknown girl soon became one of the most important Italian supermodels. As soon as her career started, she already had an award to proud of: in 2003, the year of her debut as a model for Gattinoni, a famous Italian maison, Vanessa Hessler was voted “Top model italiana emergente”, emerging Italian top model. This was just the first of a series of accolades she was awarded with. The most important was the “La Kore – Oscar come modella dell’anno 2006”, which named her as the most important Italian fashion model of the year.
From the very beginnings, Vanessa’s way was marked by the most important names in the fashion system. She treaded the catwalks of New York, Milan as well as Paris and London, modeling for the most famous Italian fashion maisons, from Mariella Burani to Raffaella Curiel or Sorelle Fontana. Besides having been chosen as the Italian supermodel who had to represent the 2004 edition of the AltaRoma fashion week, one the most famous Italian fashion events, she appeared on the TV screens on occasions such as “Donna sotto le stelle” or “Notte mediterranea”.
Vanessa Hessler’s breathtaking nordic beauty has conquered the Italian television and has reached every Italian house thanks to her participation in the 2006 edition of the Italian music festival “Festival di Sanremo”, when she appeared as one of the Italian supermodels patronesses of the event. After her “ranks” on the little screen, marked also by the international spot for Alice, the DSL service by the Italian phone company Telecom, the Italian fashion model approached also the cinema.
Her debut in the big screen came in 2005, when she played the role of feminine co-protagonist in the blockbuster Christmas movie “Natale a Miami”, produced by Neri Parenti. The Italian-American supermodel showed a talent for acting, which brought her many other opportunities as an actress. The last (for now) was the film by Carlo Vanzina “Sotto il vestito niente, l’ultima sfilata”, in which she interprets a young and beautiful model, a role that surely fits her like a glove.
Princess of the catwalks and gossip queen. The Italian magazines dedicated to Vanessa Hessler stories and photo shootings, even a calendar for the men’s magazine Max, but also many articles about her private life and her love-story with the third-born son of the Lybian leader Muammar Gheddafi. But the Italian fashion model is tied to her roots, to the peace of her life lived between US and Italy. A simple woman with a busy career, who compares her story to that of Cinderella. A modern Cinderella, actually.