CELEBRITY HOLLYWOOD MODELS

Adriana Francesca Lima (born June 12, 1981 ) is a Brazilian model best known as a Victoria's Secret Angel since 2000 and a spokesmodel for Maybelline cosmetics. At age 15, Lima finished first place in Ford's "Supermodel of Brazil" competition, and took second place the following year in the Ford "Supermodel of the World" competition before signing with Elite Model Management in New York City.
Lima was born in the northeastern coastal town of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil on June 12, 1981, to African, Native Brazilian, and Swiss heritage. Her father, from whom she was estranged for most of her life, is Nelson Torres, and her mother, Maria da Graça Lima, was a social worker who gave birth to Lima at the age of 18. Lima revealed that her father walked out on her family when she was six months old, but has been making recent attempts to reconcile. In late 2007, Lima revealed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that although she is her mother's only child, she has two half brothers, aged 7 and 11, from her father's second marriage. Coming from a poor family, her first time leaving her country and first time on a plane was when she was 15. She was raised mainly by her mother and grandmother.