Alessandra Ambrosio - Brazilian Supermodel

Alessandra Ambrosio was born in a small town of Erechim, Brazil on April 11, 1981 to petrol station-owner parents. She is of Italian and Polish descent. She was just eight years old when she decided she wanted to be a model, after seeing a picture of top covergirl Karen Mulder in a magazine. "I wanted to be like her," she recalls.

However, she felt insecure about her appearance, particularly of her large, obvious ears. So at 11, she had cosmetic surgery done to get her ears pinned back.

Unfortunately, she had complications from the surgery for the two years following. On 2006 The Tyra Banks Show, she admitted that the surgery had been a bad experience for her and that she is discouraged from having plastic surgery again.