Facts

Name : Petra Nemcova
Birthday : June 24, 1979
Birthplace : Karvina, Czechoslovakia
Occupation : Model

Famous Works

Sports Illustrated Magazine

British FHM Calendar

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Biography

Born and raised in Karvina, in the Czech Republic, Petra Nemcova has taken the modeling world by storm. Ever since a modeling scout discovered her on the streets of her native country, she seems to be plastered in every magazine layout and advertisement.

Petra won the opportunity to model "swimsuits" for Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue in 2002, which was her second appearance in the magazine that has launched several modeling careers.

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In addition to her work for SI, the Next agency model has graced the pages of Elle, Harper's Bazaar and the French model Madame Figaro, and is a model for companies like Max Factor, La Perla and Cartier.

Her first American TV appearance was on the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, where the smitten host (who announced his love for her and British singer Dido) predicted that she would make the cover of Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Issue in 2003 -- and he was right.

During the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, Petra was at the Khao Lak resort in Thailand with her photographer boyfriend, Simon Atlee when a tsunami struck where they were staying.

Atlee was killed, and Nemcova suffered a broken pelvis and serious internal injuries, but managed to hold onto the top of a palm tree, reportedly for eight hours, until she was rescued and airlifted to an island hospital nearby. Her first interview after her near-death experience was with Diane Sawyer on ABC's Primetime Live, on March 9, 2005.

Petra considers herself "lucky to be alive," and she is giving back to those who were not as lucky, by posing from her hospital bed for US Weekly as a fundraising effort that will donate $200,000 to tsunami relief efforts.

On June 3, 2004, she was one of the telecast judges during the 53rd annual Miss Universe competition in Quito, Ecuador.

Glamour magazine recently awarded Nemcová a "Survivor Award" for the tsunami ordeal, and how she has picked up her life since then (her comeback being complete with her appearance in the 2006 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue). She wrote Love Always, Petra, ISBN 0446579130, published December 2005. It tells of her early life under Communist rule in Czechoslovakia, her entrance into the field of fashion and modeling, and her breakthrough into Sports Illustrated, which was her springboard to becoming a supermodel. She also tells of her life with Simon Atlee and how they fell in love and became engaged to marry. She has recently broken up with singer James Blunt.