Ana Hickmann

Ana Hickmann was born on March 1, 1981 in Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil. Her parents were German immigrants who sustained the family with farming. Young Ana spent her impoverished early years picking up hen eggs and planting strawberries before dawn. When she was 13 years old, it was obvious she had the kind of body that was not destined for a starring role on Green Acres. She started modeling and won a number of local beauty pageants. The first born of her family, expectations were high. In 1996, she left her village to visit relatives in Sao Paulo. A friend of hers convinced her to participate in a modeling competition that she reluctantly agreed to. Before she knew it, she was among the three who were awarded an exclusive contract with Mega Models.

On February 14, 1998, two weeks shy of her 17th birthday, she got married to former model Alexander Corra who was nine years her senior. Although the couple was madly in love, the real reason for the hasty marriage was that Ana wanted to go to Paris, but the fact that she was a minor caused bureaucratic problems. In 2000, Paolo Zampolli, president of the famous agency ID Models, flew to southern Brazil to see what the Brazilian model hype, begun by Gisele Bundchen, was about. From the outset, Zampolli realized he had a winner on his hands and signed her up to his New York agency. In 2002 Ana was given the title of “Model with the longest legs,” by the Guiness Book of World Records, proving she was so attractive Guiness Book employees made up a category in an attempt to meet her.