Irina Sheik

Irina Sheik (birth name Irina Shaykhlislamova) was born on January 6, 1986 in Yemanzhelinsk, Russia. She is a supermodel sometimes credited as Irina Shayk.

Biography and Career :

She is a famous fashion model and was seen in magazines like Annabelle in Germany, Jalouse in Greece and Bolero in Switzerland. In 2007 she posed for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue as one of the '07 Rookies.

She is a tall brunette, with green eyes, and sometimes dies her hair blonde. In 2004 she started her career after she was discovered by a fashion executive who made a lengthy three-day trip from Chelyabinsk to Moscow.

Then she signed a contract with Traffic Models and soon became popular in the fashion world. She appeared in commercials and advertisements for Intimissimi, Lacoste or Marti ni.

With all her beauty and intelligence she is a star and her career is just getting started. There's no doubt she will continue having a tremendous success worldwide and she will conquer the hearts of million men.

She is always seen like a goddess and how couldn't she when she has those gorges green eyes and that body? We wish her good luck and we are sure that in couple of years she will be one of the richest models.

Trivia :

- Height: 178 cm

- Measurements: 86.5/58/88

- Hair Color: Brown

- Eye Color: Green

- Shoe Size: 38

- Advertisements: Intimissimi, Lacoste, Martini.

Agencies :

- 1 Model Management

- Traffic Models

- Modelwerk

- Why Not Model Agency

- City Models - Paris

- Michele Pommier Management

- Grace Models.

Magazine Covers :

- Germany: 'Annabelle' - May 2005

- Greece: 'Jalouse' - February 2006

- Spain: 'Woman' - July 2005

- Switzerland: 'Bolero' - June 2005.

The 22-year old Russia sweetheart also appeared in this year's SI Swimsuit Edition. The location for the shoot was the Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg. Irina Shayk and compatriot Anne V pranced around the hotel, which has twice made the list of Conde Nast Traveler's Gold List of the best hotels in the world, in skimpy swimwear....they also got to wear expensive jewelry and bangles, including the $14 million and 295-carat Ponahalo diamond necklace.

The Grand Hotel Europe is located opposite the Russian Museum in the heart of St. Petersburg. The other locations for this six-day shoot were the Ice Breaker Crasin, Russian Standard Vodka distillery and the Avtovo Russian Circus. But the video for this year's shoot had little dialogue; so sexy Irina in her cute accent talks about her home town in the Ural Mountains, and her love for hip-hop and R&B in the 2007 SI video.

Irina Shayk lingerie and fashion modeling

As Irina Shayk says in that SI video, she loves Italian food tomato mozzarella. But that's not all....according to rumor Irina has an Italian boyfriend. She has also done the maximum modeling work in Italy. Irina Shayk is the face of Intimissimi lingerie, taking over from Ana Beatriz Barros.

Irina has also done lingerie modeling for Cesare Paciotti, La Senza, Mango, Guess and Séance lingerie. Sheik recently modeled for the Victoria's Secret Holiday catalog. She has also modeled Triumph lingerie in Japan. Shayk appeared along with Italian model Yesica Toscanini in one Intimissimi campaign.

Irina Shayk has also walked on the runway in lingerie. She has modeled T-Shirts, tops and mini skirts for the Playboy clothing line, but has not appeared in the magazine. Irina has appeared in regular fashion magazines like Paris Capitale, La Confidential, Vogue Italy (March 2008), Annabelle, Jalouse and Bolero (Switzerland, June 2005).

Irina Sheik has also modeled regular clothes for famous brands like Bagutta, Quelle La Source, Paciotti, and Mango. Irina is 5'10" tall with a figure of 34-23-35.

By the time Irina Shayk hit puberty (she was born January 6, 1986) Russia embraced capitalism and opened up to the west, which gave many opportunities to Russian and Ukrainian girls like Olga Kurylenko. Irina had the looks and the figure to get into modeling, being famous then as now for her perfect teeth and beautiful green eyes.

Irina Shayk was discovered in 2004 at age 17 by Guia Djikidze, founder of Grace Models agency. Guia Djikidze, who also discovered the famous Russian model Natalia Vodianova and Anne V (who features in SI 2008), found Irina while on a three-day train journey from Chelyabinsk to Moscow. Chelyabinsk is the capital of the region and in that same year Irina Shayhlislamova won the Supermodel 2004 competition for the Chelyabinsk region, earning 60,000 Ruble, a modeling contract with Exclusive agency, and a chance to compete for the Ford Supermodel Russia title.

However that year Ukrainian Natalia Gotsiy won the title; she is also a well-known model in Europe right now. Irina Shaikhlislamova got work in Russia for the Modus Vivendis agency but later enrolled with agencies based in mainland Europe like Elite, One Models, etc. Because of her great body and Mediterranean looks, Irina began getting modeling contracts in Italy, France, Germany, and Spain, before the prestigious SI swimsuit shoot made her a household name. She still does modeling jobs in her native Russia.

Irina says she admires Russian boxer Nikolai Valuev. She is also a fan of football and supports Guus Hiddink, the former Dutch footballer who coaches the Russian national side, because he led the Russian team to its biggest success since Soviet times – the semi-finals of Euro 2008. Irina Shayk says she loves to eat cakes and hides a lot of sweets and cookies in her kitchen cabinet.....obviously in tiny portions because none of those calories show on her body!

At a young age Sheik wanted to be an actress; but as yet she has only appeared in a promotion for the Ryan Leslie single Diamond Girl. Irina has a pet cat and loves both cats and dogs; she would love to open an asylum for strays. Shayk says that she loves tomatoes....while an Italian magazine claims that Irina enjoys drinking champagne, eating caviar, and hanging out in Capri pants!