15 Oscar Winners Who Used to Model…

Posted by jill on Feb 27, 2012 in Modeling | 0 comments

In pondering how good those actors look on Academy Award night, I decided to do a background check on past Best Actress winners. I found a whopping 15 who had modeled, either before acting or to support themselves as they awaited their big break. This list does not count the many former models among Oscar nominees who did not win, or among those in the Best Supporting Actress category.

Former models who have won TWO Best Actress Oscars: Ingrid Bergman, Vivien Leigh, Jane Fonda and Halle Berry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former models who have won one Best Actress Oscar: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange, Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Jones, Geraldine Page, Joan Fontaine, Sophia Loren, Julia Roberts, and Charlize Theron.

Clearly, using modeling as a bridge to acting is not a new concept.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Incidentally, during my research I noticed that many actresses who have Oscars on their mantles come from broken homes. Children of divorce must find escaping into imaginary worlds therapeutic and/or they have more raw emotions at the ready. Since people with divorced parents are more likely to divorce themselves, perhaps all those celebrity break-ups aren’t entirely due to fame, fortune, media hounding, and the temptation of hot co-stars. Stay tuned for a look at “model” marriages (both lasting and fleeting) and their correlation to vows honored or broken in the generation before.