Christy Turlington — Biography
Christy Nicole Turlington was born on January 2, 1969, in Walnut Creek, California, to Dwain Turlington, a pilot, and María Elizabeth, who worked as a flight attendant and hailed from El Salvador. Growing up in Danville, California, she shared her childhood with two sisters, Erin and Kelly. At the age of 14, she was spotted by photographer Dennie Cody while riding horses in Miami, leading her to begin a modeling career that she adeptly balanced with her education. After graduating from Monte Vista High School at 18, she moved to New York City. She briefly enrolled at both UCLA and NYU with a focus on comparative religion and Eastern philosophy, but her modeling career soon took precedence. Turlington's background is a blend of American (with English and other European roots) from her father and Salvadoran heritage from her mother, which she has addressed in various interviews, despite not being categorized as a Latina model herself. While she is known primarily as Christy Turlington, she took on the name Christy Turlington Burns after her marriage. Throughout her modeling journey, she has not used any well-known aliases.
She gained significant recognition during the late 1980s and 1990s as a key member of "The Big 10," a group of supermodels who ruled the fashion scene of that decade, where celebrity status and MTV appearances held as much weight as runway shows or magazine covers. This elite circle included names like Elle MacPherson, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Stephanie Seymour, Tatjana Patitz, Helena Christensen, Claudia Schiffer, and Kate Moss. Renowned for her timeless beauty, Turlington graced the covers of over 500 magazines, including prestigious titles like Vogue (in various editions), Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, W, and Cosmopolitan. Notable highlights of her career include her iconic British Vogue cover in 1990 featuring Campbell, Evangelista, Crawford, and Patitz, as well as her memorable appearance in George Michael’s Freedom! ’90 music video. She has lent her image to campaigns for brands like Calvin Klein (with the famous Eternity from 1988), Maybelline, Chanel, and Versace, while also walking in shows for designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Prada, and Valentino. After retiring from the runway in 1994, she continued to work in print, making appearances in Vogue in 2019 and in Louis Vuitton’s campaigns for 2023. Turlington began her modeling career by signing with Ford Models in New York at 16, which she remained with throughout her career, alongside collaborations with Elite Model Management and other global agencies. She frequently appeared in editorials for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, W, Elle, Marie Claire, and Allure, often photographed by the likes of Steven Meisel and Herb Ritts, and her work was featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2009 exhibition
She gained significant recognition during the late 1980s and 1990s as a key member of "The Big 10," a group of supermodels who ruled the fashion scene of that decade, where celebrity status and MTV appearances held as much weight as runway shows or magazine covers. This elite circle included names like Elle MacPherson, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Stephanie Seymour, Tatjana Patitz, Helena Christensen, Claudia Schiffer, and Kate Moss. Renowned for her timeless beauty, Turlington graced the covers of over 500 magazines, including prestigious titles like Vogue (in various editions), Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, W, and Cosmopolitan. Notable highlights of her career include her iconic British Vogue cover in 1990 featuring Campbell, Evangelista, Crawford, and Patitz, as well as her memorable appearance in George Michael’s Freedom! ’90 music video. She has lent her image to campaigns for brands like Calvin Klein (with the famous Eternity from 1988), Maybelline, Chanel, and Versace, while also walking in shows for designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Prada, and Valentino. After retiring from the runway in 1994, she continued to work in print, making appearances in Vogue in 2019 and in Louis Vuitton’s campaigns for 2023. Turlington began her modeling career by signing with Ford Models in New York at 16, which she remained with throughout her career, alongside collaborations with Elite Model Management and other global agencies. She frequently appeared in editorials for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, W, Elle, Marie Claire, and Allure, often photographed by the likes of Steven Meisel and Herb Ritts, and her work was featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2009 exhibition
