Renée Simonsen

Renée Toft Simonsen (born 12 May 1965) is a Danish former supermodel who currently works as a writer. Simonsen was one of the most successful models in the world during the 1980s.

Simonsen was born in Aarhus, Denmark, where she worked as a supermarket cashier before she was discovered.

In 1981 she caught the attention of fashion editor Birte Strandgaard, who convinced photographer Leif Nygaard to take some photos. Simonsen subsequently participated in the Ekstra Bladet Contest and won 2nd place. In July 1981 she appeared on the cover of the Danish magazine Fotokino.

The following year she won the Ekstra Bladet Contest, and was chosen to represent Denmark at the Ford Supermodel contest, which she won in August 1982. In April 1983 she appeared in the American edition of Vogue and went on to grace four more American Vogue covers.

From 1983 on she became one of the quickest rising stars of the international modeling world, being featured on the covers of numerous international fashion magazines. She was the cover girl for the German Vogue in March, April and September of that year.

In 1983 she was featured on the cover of Roxy Music's Atlantic Years album.

Renee was the face of cosmetic brands such as Clarins, Maybelline and Covergirl and Lancel luggage. She also appeared in a swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated magazine.

From 1985-1989 she dated bassplayer John Taylor of the British band Duran Duran to whom she was engaged. That same year, she debuted as an actress in Carlo Vanzina's Sotto il vestito niente (The Last Shot), playing a psychopathic murderer. In America this film is entitled "Nothing Underneath". Besides her many modeling jobs, in 1987 she worked again with Vanzina on the comedy Via Montenapoleone.

In 1988 she decided to take a break from fashion. Before breaking up with Taylor in 1989, she lived for 4 months in a kibbutz in Israel with her sister Heidi. Despite an offer to audition for the role of a Bond Girl in one the upcoming James Bond films, the following year Simonsen ended her modeling career and returned to Denmark to study journalism. After failing the qualifying examination she began to study psychology instead.

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