Josie Maran

Josie Maran, born Johanna Selhorst Maran on May 8, 1978, is an American supermodel and actress. She is well known for her association with cosmetics company Maybelline and for her appearances as a model in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

Biography

Josie Maran was born in Menlo Park, California to a father of Russian and Polish descent, and a mother of Dutch, French, and German ancestry. She began modeling part-time after an agent spotted her at a local barbecue restaurant at the age of 12. Maran continued a more dedicated career after graduating from the Castilleja School. Considered by some to be too short for runway modeling at 5 feet 7 inches tall, her career consists mostly of editorial modeling and advertising/image modeling.

Signed at age 17 with the Elite modeling agency of Los Angeles, Josie appeared on her first cover with Glamour magazine in 1998, and she was the featured Guess? Girl in their summer 1998 and fall 1998 campaigns. After building a resumé of over 25 commercials and advertisements, including a music video for the popular boy-band the Backstreet Boys, Maran moved cross-country to join with Elite in New York City. In 1999 she landed a multi-year deal with Maybelline following in the footsteps of her idol Christy Turlington. She appeared in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue for three consecutive years—2000, 2001, 2002.

In addition to her thriving modeling career, Josie began an acting career in 2001 with a star turn as title character Mallory in an independent film, The Mallory Effect. She continued to take on roles, appearing in 2002 as Susan in Swatters. In 2004 she landed film roles as a French model in Little Black Book, as one of Dracula's brides in Van Helsing, and was seen briefly as a cigarette girl in The Aviator. She appeared in a short film "The Confession" alongside Wentworth Miller in 2005, and as Kira Hastings in The Gravedancers in 2006. Josie will play Polly Hudson in The Final Season, scheduled for release in 2007.

In 2005, she was recruited by EA Games to appear as a main character in the street-racing computer and video game, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, which was released on November 17, 2005. She plays the game's second lead Mia Townsend, who guides the lead character through the game.

Personal life

Josie had a long-term relationship with popular magician David Blaine, with whom she lived in Manhattan. He reportedly has a tattoo of the letter "J" over his heart for his time spent with her.^{[citation needed]}

Josie is possibly bisexual. On the Howard Stern show, November 17 2000, she spoke of "touching" at least one other actress/model together with David Blaine, and experimenting as a child without knowing what she was doing. On Jimmy Kimmel Live, August 12 2004, she talked about a hypothetical crush on singer Gwen Stefani and actor Johnny Depp: "I wanna merge them into one person". She later clarified that she does not want to meet them in real life, and that she is not actually "gay".

She is quoted as saying on that same appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, "I don't believe in marriage. I just don't think it's necessary in this day and age. I just think if you get married and you're already distrusting the person, why do you have to sign something to show your love? You just love."

Josie talked about quitting modeling and acting to live in Hawaii and teach children, on Jimmy Kimmel Live, 24 October 2005. She has also started doing yoga, eating organic foods, and quit smoking.

Josie and boyfriend Ali Alborzi welcomed daughter Rumi Joon on June 20 2006 in Los Angeles, according to the Celebrity Baby Blog.^[1]

Notable work

Editorial

• Cosmopolitan
• Cosmo Girl
• ELLE
• Esquire
• Estylo
• FHM
• Glamour (6 time cover girl)
• GQ
• Lucky
• Mademoiselle
• Marie Claire
• Maxim
• Rev
• Shape
• Surface
• Vogue

Print

• Allen Allen
• American Eagle Outfitters
• Ann Taylor
• Andrew Marc
• Bebe
• Guess? (featured Guess? Girl in Summer 1998 and Fall 1998 campaigns)
• Intimissimi
• Maybelline ("face" of Maybelline cosmetics)
• Levi's
• Sisley
• Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue 2000, 2001, 2002
• Victoria's Secret

Filmography

• The Confession (2005): Wife
• Need For Speed: Most Wanted (VG) (2005): Mia Townsend
• The Gravedancers (2005): Kira Hastings
• The Aviator (2004): Thelma
• Little Black Book (2004): Lulu Fritz
• Van Helsing (2004): Marishka
• Swatters (2002): Susan
• The Mallory Effect (2002): Mallory

Television Appearances

• Jimmy Kimmel Live (2005) (2004) (2003)
• Van Helsing: Behind the Screams (2004)
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien (2004)
• The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn (2004) (2002)
• Howard Stern (2000)
• music video of Everybody (Backstreet's Back) by Backstreet Boys (1997)
• music video of Morning Light by Truman (2004)

Trivia

• Maran is pronounced MAIR-an, rhymes with Karen, like "CARE-an".
• Josie has a scar due to an appendectomy performed when she was 12, but the scar is edited out from most photos.

Quotes

"Modeling isn't all that tough."

"Part of the challenge of Most Wanted is trying to become the most notorious street racer on the pavement."

"The roughest part of that [model] lifestyle is the travel and early mornings."

"Working on Most Wanted has been a great experience. If they'll have me back, I'd be happy to get with more games."

"Performing for a game involves real acting. The way they create a game is very similar now to how they create a film. I've always wanted to stretch my acting skills, and the timing being what it is, I couldn't say no."

"For this game, we shot it just like it as if it was a film so there wasn't that much different from doing a film other than some technical things for the costume that had to be done so they could transfer the footage later and make it look animated." - about the game, Van Helsing.

Wikipedia information about Josie Maran This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Josie Maran". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.