Gemma Ward at the Internet Movie Database
Gemma Ward at the FMD
Gemma Louise Ward (born 3 November 1987) is an Australian fashion model turned actress. At 15 Ward made her Australian Fashion Week debut in May 2003. Within a year, she was in Italy meeting Prada designer Miuccia Prada. Her look inspired a new generation of baby doll-like models such as Vlada Roslyakova, Heather Marks, Lily Cole, Lisa Cant, and Jessica Stam. In September 2004 at only sixteen, Ward became the youngest model to appear on American Vogue photographed by Steven Meisel as one of the nine “Models of the Moment” with Daria Werbowy, Natalia Vodianova, Gisele Bündchen, Isabeli Fontana, Karolina Kurkova, Liya Kebede, Hana Soukupova and Karen Elson. In February 2005, Ward appeared in no less than 20 New York runways for designers that included Vera Wang, Oscar de la Renta and Klein, and was rumored to earn about $20,000 per show. And at 17, she became the famous face of Calvin Klein’s Obsession Night perfume billboards – bumping Kate Moss out of a job in the process. Ward was reportedly paid $1.3 million for the Calvin Klein campaign and counted similar deals with Burberry and Valentino among her model earnings. Ward modeling in San Francisco, 15 March, 2007. Ward then graced the Spring 2005 cover of TIME Magazine’s Style & Design issue. In September 2005, Ward secured a coveted place on the inaugural cover of Vogue China posing between Chinese models Du Juan and Wang Wenqin and was shot by leading photographer Patrick Demarchelier. A staggering 300,000 copies sold in the first three hours. “She is every inch blue chip,” Vivien’s agent Suzie Deveridge said. “Right now she’s considered the No. 2 model in the world – and she isn’t even 18 yet.” By 2006 Ward became Australia’s brightest fashion star since Elle Macpherson. At the age of 18, Ward became the first model ever to appear on the cover of Teen Vogue magazine. She was then featured in the Australian television program 60 Minutes as the “It Girl”. She was earning $25,000 to stride the catwalk. In Allure magazine (October 2006), Ward is described as “the model of the moment.” Allure’s creative director Paul Cavaco stated: “We went through a period that was very va-va-voom, but now the pendulum has swung back. Gemma is ethereal, not earthy.” Photographer Michael Thompson says, “She’s an exotic blonde, the rarest of creatures.” In July 2007, earning at an estimated total of $3 million in the past 12 months, Forbes named her tenth in the list of the World’s 15 Top-Earning Supermodels. In October 2007 Ward appeared on the cover of the very first issue of Vogue India, centered between Bollywood actresses Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra shot by photographer Patrick Demarchelier (who also photographed her in Vogue China) and it became the second time Ward has appeared on an inaugural issue. Vogue Paris declared her one of the top 30 models of the 2000s Ward has long aspired to pursue acting and drama is a passion that she has held since she was a child. She starred alongside Toni Collette and Rhys Wakefield in Australian director Elissa Down’s film The Black Balloon as the girlfriend of a boy whose brother has autism. The Black Balloon had its world premiere at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival in Germany in February 2008, where it received a Crystal Bear as the best feature-length film in the Generation 14plus category. She was also cast opposite Liv Tyler in the suspense thriller The Strangers as one of the three masked intruders, “Dollface”. In the summer of 2009, she took classes at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York. After three years out of the spotlight, Ward made her international stage debut in 22 March 2011 for the (PTC) Perth Theatre Company’s production of The Ugly One. The play centres on the modern obsession with physical beauty and the need to resort to plastic surgery. Her star power brought the PTC publicity and boosted ticket sales. Perth Now’s Maria Noakes gave Ward positive reviews for her performance. In the summer of 2011, Ward played Tamara, an antagonistic mermaid, in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, opposite Johnny Depp.