About
Irina Shayk (real name Shaykhlislamova), sometimes credited as Irina Sheik, was born on Jan 6 1986 in a small town called Emanzhelisk, it's in Ural, 50 km from Сhelyabinsk.
Irina started modelling quite late – at the age of 19, and in 2007 Irina became the face of Intimissimi lingerie, taking over from Ana Beatriz Barros. That same year Irina received international recognition when she appeared in the prestigious Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She has appeared in the issue every year since then, and was the 1st Russian model that graced the cover in 2011. This cover brought her a lot of attention from press - she was a celebrity guest in such TV shows as The Late Show with David Letterman, The Today show, Chelsea Lately, My Fox NY, My Fox LA, Fox 2, Ellen Degeneris and others.
Irina has been featured in major ad campaigns for Fay, Guess, Armani Exchange, Replay, Avon, La Perla, Lacoste, Paciotti 4US, Germaine de Capuccini, Beach Bunny, Morellato, Rampage and many others. She has graced the covers of many top magazines including Vogue, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Esquire, L’Express Magazine, Elle, Glamour, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, and many more. World’s best photographers love to work with her, to name a few - Paolo Roversi, Mario Testino, David Roemer.
In 2010, after being the face of Intimissimi for 3 years, she became the official ambassador for the brand. That same year Irina starred in Kanye West’s ‘Power’ music video and ranked first in the "50 Hottest Russian Women" list by Complex magazine. Irina is 13th in 20 sexiest models on models.com and the 57th in 100 hottest supermodels on zimbio.com. She also received a lot of prestigious international awards – Best Internationsl Model 2010 by Glamour Spain, Marie Claire Prix de la Moda Awards 2011, Glamour Russia Model of the Year 2012, GQ Mexico Woman of the Year 2011, Russian Heritage Festival award 2012, Hello! magazine award The Most Elegant in 2013.
She is also one of the most followed topmodels in social media networks, such as facebook and twitter. Irina was one of the supermodels participating in a special charity project – Marc Jacobs’ T shirts “Protect the Skin You Are In”.
In 2012 Irina began to transition into the world of high fashion when she covered L'express Styles magazine. Following that initial transition, Irina has covered Vs Magazine and was featured in the second and third issue of Carine Roitfeld’s Magazine CR Fashion Book which led to an exclusive at the Fall 2013 Givenchy fashion show in Paris. She was also named the new host of Russia's newest Top Model television franchise Top-Model po-russki. Currently Irina is the global beauty ambassador for Avon.
Irina most recently launched a collaboration with Beach Bunny Swimwear, where she has designed her own line of bikinis.
In 2014 Irina will make her big screen debut as Megara, the wife of Hercules, in the Hollywood movie ‘Hercules: The Thracian Wars” directed by Brett Rather.
Irina currently divides her time between New York and Europe while spending time donating to her charity that helps children and families in need in her homeland of Russia.
