Unknown model shoots to fame after starring in music video

Unknown model shoots to fame after starring in music video

Emily Ratajkowski who?

Here's something to jolt your memory - she was the naked bosomy brunette in Robin Thicke's saucy music video for Blurred Lines.

She was a nobody until she stripped for the raunchy video, putting her bosom and sexy pout on full display.

That steamy appearance was enough to earn the largely unknown UK-born American model Esquire's first-ever Woman Of The Year title.

The results were announced over the weekend, with the 22-year-old model even thrashing Oscar-winning Hollywood actress Jennifer Lawrence with 64.6 per cent of the votes. (Seriously.)

Ratajkowski - the "J" is silent - won't be a low-lying beauty for long.

Since her appearance in that music video (MV), which has had more than 205 million views on YouTube, she has been making waves. She scored an ad campaign for clothing line Rag & Bone and a supporting role opposite Ben Affleck in the upcoming David Fincher thriller Gone Girl.

"I just shot with (photographer) Bruce Weber for CR (a fashion magazine run by former Vogue Paris editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld) and obviously things come with that kind of attention. I met with Karl Lagerfeld, and if you have those kind of connections, that takes you into that world and puts you on that level," she told Esquire in July, when asked if the video had opened up new opportunities.

It's only just the beginning - she is in talks with luxury brand Tom Ford and has apparently been offered a buffet of roles in both movies and TV shows.

Not bad for someone whose sizzling hot bod we recognise more than her name.

It seems like an MV is the new virtual career launchpad these days.

HOT FM91.3 DJ and YouTube star Joshua Simon, 23, said: "It's a mixture of all the right ingredients (that helped her) - it was the collaboration between Robin Thicke and (US singer-producer) Pharrell Williams, the catchy song, as well as the concept of the video which was simple and funny. On her part, she stood out because of her beauty and personality."

Said Sony Music Singapore senior marketing manager Esther Leck: "It doesn't hurt when you ride on the popularity of someone already famous like Robin Thicke to become famous too."

Ratajkowski dipped her toe into the world of modelling at the age of 14 when she signed with Ford Models, hoping to break into acting as well.

In 2010, she left the University of California, Los Angeles after a year to pursue modelling full-time.

Blurred Lines, however, wasn't the first time Ratajkowski ditched her clothes.

She first did so in her breakout pictorial in Los Angeles erotica magazine Treats! in 2011.

And she might just wear her birthday suit all the way to the big screen.

"I'm not worried about nudity... I'd rather play a complex character who has a love scene than a stupid girl who's just a girl next door," she told The New York Times in an interview last week.

This girl clearly has big dreams for herself.

"Whether I'm talking about a perfume, a movie or an editorial, there's always a part of it that's about me, but an equal part that's about the project. I want to be a brand," she said.


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