Early life

Ratajkowski, an only child, was born in Westminster, London, to American parents. At Ratajkowski's birth, her mother, Kathleen Balgley, and father, John David "J. D." Ratajkowski, were aged 39 and 45, respectively, and unmarried. Balgley, an English professor and writer, described by Ratajkowski as a "feminist and intellectual", was teaching under the Fulbright Program. Balgley met J. D. Ratajkowski, a painter and art teacher, when they both taught at San Dieguito Academy. The family lived in West Kensington and Bloomsbury before they settled in the United States in San Diego, California, when Ratajkowski was five. She was raised primarily in nearby Encinitas in a small house near the ocean. Balgley formerly taught at California Polytechnic State University.

Ratajkowski is of Polish, Irish, and Polish Jewish descent. Her father was raised Catholic, while her mother was raised Jewish. Ratajkowski describes her heritage as "Polish Israeli". She lived in, and traveled to, many parts of Europe as a youth, including long periods in the Irish town of Bantry and on the Spanish island of Mallorca. She spent her young adult summers in Ireland until she became a full-time model. Ratajkowski grew up without television; she tried soccer, acting, and ballet before modeling.

Ratajkowski visited nude beaches in Europe with her family during her youth. Exposure to the nude female figure in photography and art during her formative years, including the work of her father, as well as the photography of Helmut Newton and Herb Ritts, prepared Ratajkowski for nude work. She is comfortable with the naked body, and states, "We have this culture of men, especially, watching pornography, but then offended by a classic nude portrait or photograph, and I've never felt that way." As a physically mature young teenager, Ratajkowski endured pressure to suppress expressing her sexuality and how she presented herself.

Career

Ratajkowski staged shows for her family as a child. Her first formal acting role was as Elsa in an adaptation of The Little Match Girl at the North Coast Repertory Theatre School in Solana Beach, California. She played Harriet in the interactive 2004 Lyceum Theatre production of Harriet Potter and the Throne of Applewort. Ratajkowski signed with Ford Models at age 14 and did teen print catalog modeling for Kohl's and Nordstrom. She attended San Dieguito Academy high school in San Diego, while modeling and acting in Los Angeles.

As an adolescent, Ratajkowski pursued acting, but she was often cast as a "bitchy girl", cheerleader, or other limited role. After two nondescript movie roles, she appeared as Gibby's girlfriend, Tasha, in two episodes of the third season of Nickelodeon's iCarly (2009-2010). Her manager discouraged her from pursuing many acting engagements until she could be more selective.

Ratajkowski attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for one year in 2009, then decided to model full-time. She found the fine art education at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture arbitrary and in conflict with her artistic concepts. She did not enjoy socializing with fellow students.

After campaigns and editorials with photographer Tony Duran, Ratajkowski began shooting more fashion editorials and posed for several early issues of the artistic erotica magazine treats!, including the cover of its third issue, in March 2012. She credits that cover for bringing her the two unsolicited, high-profile, music video roles. Ratajkowski later filmed commercials for Nikon and Carl's Jr., including multiple versions of a 2012 Carl's Jr. commercial with Sara Jean Underwood. She also did nude and clothed art magazine modeling, as well as work for Frederick's of Hollywood; a 2012 holiday video and a 2011 Valentine's video in which Ratajkowski appeared for the company are among the most popular videos on the company's YouTube channel. Ratajkowski worked with photographer Tony Kelly for the March 2013 GQ Turkey cover.

Music video performances

Ratajkowski is well known for appearing in Robin Thicke, T.I., and Pharrell Williams's video, "Blurred Lines". Previously, Ratajkowski had been cast in two other music videos: "Fast Car" by Taio Cruz, which was released on November 5, 2012, and Maroon 5's "Love Somebody", which was released two months after "Blurred Lines".

(left) Ratajkowski receiving hair spray from a hair stylist; (center) getting lip liner from a make-up artist; and (right) posing with male models during a photo shoot

"Love Somebody", shot on January 13, and "Blurred Lines" were both produced in 2013. The video for "Love Somebody" was released on May 21, 2013. Directed by Rich Lee, it shows bare-chested Adam Levine using inverse green screen technology to rub paint onto Ratajkowski with his hands. As they touch, they reveal each other.

Thicke had seen Ratajkowski's treats! cover that The New York Times's Bee Shapiro described as "an artfully composed black-and-white photograph of Ms. Ratajkowski sitting completely nude with her knees tucked to her chest" and convinced director Diane Martel to cast her in the "Blurred Lines" music video. Martel felt that "she looked smart and stunningly beautiful" in the photo. Ratajkowski initially declined the role, fearing being classified as a music video model, but Martel persuaded her. The video was released on March 20, 2013. On March 28, Thicke posted an explicit version, with a topless Ratajkowski.

"Blurred Lines" was controversial: some felt it promoted rape, while others disagreed, asserting that it promoted female power and sexual freedom. Ratajkowski said that the song "gave me an opportunity to say the things that I felt about feminism today and about women in general in pop culture."

The video has been called sexist for its degradation of women. Martel, however, defended Ratajkowski's performance, saying: "it's very, very funny and subtly ridiculing." Ratajkowski did not think of the video as sexist and claimed that the producers, through the use of humor and sarcasm, "took something that on paper sounded really sexist and misogynistic and made it more interesting". She said that she did not feel objectified and enjoyed performing in a sexual manner. Ratajkowski said that the attention given to the nudity in the video shows that America has not advanced as far as it should have and that she believes our society represses sexuality, which is bad for both sexes.

"Blurred Lines", and Ratajkowski's associated video performance, was prominent beyond the sociopolitical controversies. The song became the number one song of 2013 on music charts in many countries, including Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Although second on the year-end US Billboard Hot 100 chart, the song's twelve consecutive weeks at number one made it the longest-running number one song of the decade until "Uptown Funk" spent fourteen consecutive weeks at number one in 2015. The song also remained in the news due to a copyright infringement lawsuit and appeal.

Rise to fame

Ratajkowski was on the July 2013 cover of CR Fashion Book, which included erotic scenes with Karlie Kloss and male models, photographed by Bruce Weber. On June 24, she appeared topless in the July 2014 American GQ cover story, photographed by Michael Thompson. A controversy ensued at retailer Lands' End, some of whose customers received the issue for free. Some customers objected to the racy images, forcing Lands' End CEO Edgar Huber to apologize.

Ratajkowski parlayed her sudden prominence into supporting roles in major films. Ratajkowski played Andie Hardy, the mistress of Ben Affleck's character, in David Fincher's 2014 adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel Gone Girl. Affleck encouraged Fincher to consider Ratajkowski after seeing the "Blurred Lines" video. U-T San Diego described Ratajkowski's performance as "nuanced", while Andrew O'Hehir of Salon and Wesley Morris of Grantland noted that her small role as a "duplicitous and manipulative former student" was critical.

In September 2014, Ratajkowski was a victim in a female celebrity hacking and internet posting wave of stolen nude iCloud photographs. Days after Gone Girl's September 26, 2014, New York Film Festival premiere, she became the cover model for the November 2014 issue of Cosmopolitan. On October 30, 2014, Ratajkowski appeared with Taylor Kitsch in the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare live-action trailer. Ratajkowski appeared on the February 2015 FHM cover, but she tweeted that her picture was used without her consent. FHM responded that "we liked the pictures so much we stuck one on our front cover."

Ratajkowski co-starred in the 2015 film Entourage as a fictionalized version of herself, playing the love interest of Adrian Grenier's character, Vincent Chase. Ratajkowski's performance received critical commentary ranging from "less than compelling", by the The Hollywood Reporter's Sheri Linden, to "uncanny realism", by The Philadelphia Inquirer's Steven Rea. Grantland's Morris described her role and performance with scathing sarcasm.

Ratajkowski was cast in the 2015 miniseries The Spoils Before Dying as Agent Day, appearing late in the series. Her performance was favorably reviewed by Emily L. Stephens of The A.V. Club. Other critics noted that Ratajkowski was part of a solid supporting cast.

Ratajkowski was cast in her first leading role, opposite Zac Efron, in We Are Your Friends, a musical drama released in August 2015. She was part of the film's August 2015 promotional tour to Europe and North America. She played Stanford University dropout Sophie, the love interest of Efron's character and girlfriend/personal assistant of Wes Bentley's character. Her performance received mixed reviews. Alonso Duralde of TheWrap described the role as thin, as did Ty Burr of The Boston Globe. Burr said that Ratajkowski's performance was "surpassingly dull", while Nell Minow of Beliefnet noted that she "does more posing than acting." Kyle Smith of the New York Post described her performance as "quietly entrancing", and Jordan Hoffman of the Daily News described Ratajkowski's performance as "stunning and sweet." Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph and Grantland's Morris noted Ratajkowski's rhythmic dancing skills and sex appeal, as previously seen in "Blurred Lines".

Around the time of the release of We Are Your Friends, Ratajkowski was prominent in the media, with cover appearances on Grazia France, British GQ, harper by Harper's Bazaar, InStyle UK, and InStyle Australia, as well as a role as a 2015 MTV Video Music Awards presenter. The British GQ cover story was photographed by Mario Testino, who produced a short film featuring Ratajkowski for the magazine's website.

As of May 2016, Ratajkowski has a variety of upcoming roles. She will play Jessica Weintraub, the female lead opposite Spencer Boldman in the film Cruise, which is written and directed by Robert Siegel. Ratajkowski was hired as part of the cast of the film In Darkness, alongside Natalie Dormer, Ed Skrein, and Stacy Martin. She will also be involved in Joe Swanberg's Netflix series, Easy.

Before Ratajkowski began filming Cruise, she made her runway debut for Marc Jacobs at the spring/summer 2016 New York Fashion Week finale on September 17, 2015. This appearance contributed to her selection as one of Vogue's 12 Breakout Beauty Stars of 2015. For fall/winter 2016 fashions, Ratajkowski walked the Paris Fashion Week runway for Miu Miu on March 9, 2016. As a 5-foot-7-inch (1.70 m) model with "curves that put her in a different class from runway models", she has said that she hopes to break barriers for shorter and more curvaceous models.

A Buick Super Bowl ad for its Cascada convertible during Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016, featured Ratajkowski and Odell Beckham, Jr. The ad, in which she made a wedding bouquet catch reminiscent of Beckham's famous catch from 2014, received average ratings, according to USA Today's admeter. The ad was filmed with a stunt double making the catch.

Los Angeles-based jewelry designer Jacquie Aiche featured Ratajkowski in a spring 2016 campaign wearing almost nothing but body chains, rings, bracelets, pendants, and chokers. Ratajkowski hosted PopSugar's 2016 Coachella kick-off party. On April 29, Russian entertainer Dima Bilan announced his forthcoming music video "Inseparable" (sometimes translated as "Indivisible") via Instagram. The Russian-language video, featuring Bilan as a photographer and Ratajkowski as his muse, was recorded in Los Angeles.

Personal life

In February 2014, Ratajkowski broke up with her boyfriend Andrew Dryden, a creative director and menswear buyer. In December 2014, Us Weekly confirmed she was dating musician Jeff Magid.

Ratajkowski has done public service announcements promoting safe sex and birth control for Planned Parenthood (PPFA). She also committed to be in a short reproductive and sexual health film for PPFA. Ratajkowski describes PPFA as her main charity because of its role in women's health, and has helped PPFA raise funds. Ratajkowski's involvement has drawn ire from right to life advocates such as the National Right to Life Committee.

Ratajkowski says that she enjoys freedom of sexual expression "while still being a feminist", and is outspoken about using her celebrity to support the empowerment of women and women's sexuality. Amanda Hess of Slate questioned whether she is a feminist or an opportunist exploiting feminism. In The New York Times, Ratajkowski expressed her frustration that "society somehow feels that women can't manage to be political, feminist and a sex symbol". She has called society's reaction to the naked female form "weird". As a woman who enjoys both ballet and pornographic entertainment, Ratajkowski feels that she can be nude in her professional work and also support equality for women. British GQ's Charlie Burton stated that she is a feminist with more to say than others. He said that her message is one of sexual empowerment, because sex should not feel like a service and should be beneficial to all involved parties.

On the eve of the February 2016 New Hampshire Democratic primary, Ratajkowski spoke at a Bernie Sanders rally in New Hampshire to endorse his campaign. One of the main points of her speech, and her social media activity surrounding it, was to counter Gloria Steinem's statement that young female Sanders supporters (and thus Hillary Clinton opponents) were involved in the campaign to meet potential male romantic partners.

Media image

	Ratajkowski's posing for 2013 GQ Türkiye glamour shoot Play media Ratajkowski dancing during photo shoot Play media
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The "Blurred Lines" video garnered Ratajkowski notoriety, especially as a sex symbol. In October 2013, Esquire magazine named Ratajkowski "Woman of the Year", over online fan vote finalist Jennifer Lawrence. That December, Rolling Stone magazine listed her among its twenty hottest sex symbols. In February 2014, Sports Illustrated magazine named Ratajkowski as one of twelve 50th anniversary swimsuit issue rookies. In April, FHM ranked her the fourth sexiest woman in the world. Maxim magazine included Ratajkowski at number 62 on its 2014 Hot 100 list. AskMen ranked her the third most desirable woman of 2014.

Ratajkowski's acting career had a slow start. After a minor acting role in Gone Girl, she played herself in Entourage. Richard Roeper and Wesley Morris noted that Ratajkowski, who again played the attractive object of affection in We Are Your Friends, again failed to demonstrate acting prowess.

Ratajkowski described the pressure that she endured as a youth around her sexuality and her thoughts on female sexual empowerment, in Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter newsletter on February 16, 2016. Elle magazine, Esquire magazine, and Harper's Bazaar republished her letter. Critics, including Glamour magazine's Hayley Spencer, The Huffington Post's Jenavieve Hatch, and Rachael Moon of The Daily Mirror, praised it. Cosmopolitan magazine's Nikki Kinstlinger and Georgia Simmonds of Marie Claire noted that Ratajkowski finds self-empowerment in defining and owning the expression of her sexuality and body. Salon's Erin Coulehan noted the essay's identification of a societal catch-22, in which showcasing female sexuality that may "offend, excite, or create envy" leads to criticism and body shaming. InStyle's Isabella Silvers concurred that "female sexuality isn't always for the benefit of someone else." Charlotte Gill of The Independent admitted that she was in the minority in finding the letter "rambling" and "dull".

Ratajkowski defended Kim Kardashian in a March naked selfie social media controversy, saying that women have the right to "express their sexuality and share their bodies however they choose." Then, Kardashian and Ratajkowski jointly advocated via social media for female sexual empowerment and against body shaming; nearly one million social media followers responded positively, and prominent global media outlets took notice.

Following her letter and social media statement, her feminism became controversial. Piers Morgan stated that Ratajkowski's form of feminism was a misguided affront to true feminism, labeling it pseudo-feminist gibberish. After Morgan wrote that "feminism as it was intended is dead", the Chicago Tribune's Heidi Stevens, as well as The Daily Telegraph's Helen Pankhurst (Emmeline Pankhurst's great-granddaughter) said that Ratajkowski neither killed nor bolstered feminism. Women's Wear Daily's Taylor Harris questioned the impact of Ratajkowski's feminism. The Independent's Gill questioned Ratajkowski's feminism, saying that her professional activities "continued to advocate industries that treat us as pieces of meat." Heather Saul of The Independent subtitled her support of Ratajkowski: "Ratajkowski is becoming an important feminist voice in the debate over female censorship and sexuality." New York's Allie Jones called Ratajkowski "the best feminist celeb."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Andrew's Alteration	Young Girl	Short film
2005	A Year and a Day	Girl
2014	Gone Girl	Andie Fitzgerald
2015	Entourage	Herself
2015	We Are Your Friends	Sophie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009-2010	iCarly	Tasha	2 episodes
2015	The Spoils Before Dying	Agent Day	Main cast

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist
2012	"Fast Car"	Taio Cruz
2013	"Blurred Lines"	Robin Thicke ft. T.I. and Pharrell
2013	"Love Somebody"	Maroon 5
2016	"Inseparable"	Dima Bilan

Magazine cover history

As of May 2016, her magazine cover history is as follows.

Magazine	Country	Date	Photographer	Notes
treats!	United States	000000002012-03-01-0000March 2012
GQ	Turkey	000000002013-03-01-0000March 2013	Tony Kelly
CR Fashion Book	unknown	Fall/Winter 2013	Bruce Weber
S moda	Spain	000000002014-03-01-0000March 1, 2014	Tetsu Kubota
GQ	United States	000000002014-07-01-0000July 2014	Michael Thompson
Ocean Drive	United States	000000002014-09-01-0000September 2014	Tony Duran
Cosmopolitan	United States	000000002014-11-01-0000November 2014	Eric Ray Davidson
FHM	United Kingdom	000000002015-02-01-0000February 2015	unknown
Cosmopolitan	Italy	000000002015-06-01-0000June 2015	Eric Ray Davidson
Cosmopolitan	Singapore	000000002015-06-01-0000June 2015	Eric Ray Davidson
Cosmopolitan	South Africa	000000002015-07-01-0000July 2015	Eric Ray Davidson
Grazia	Italy	000000002015-08-14-0000August 14, 2015	unknown
GQ	United Kingdom	000000002015-09-01-0000September 2015	Mario Testino
Harper by Harper's Bazaar	United States	000000002015-09-01-0000September 2015	Will Davidson
Editorialist	United States	Fall/Winter 2015	Derek Kettela
InStyle	United Kingdom	000000002015-10-01-0000October 2015	Jenny Gage and Tom Betterton
InStyle	Australia	000000002015-10-01-0000October 2015	Jenny Gage and Tom Betterton
Le Petit Voyeur	unknown	000000002015-12-01-0000December 2015	Jonathan Leder
GQ	Spain	000000002016-01-01-0000January 2016	Mario Testino
GQ	Russia	000000002016-02-01-0000February 2016	Mario Testino
Madame Figaro	France	000000002016-05-01-0000May 2016	unknown

[ Source: Wikipedia ]