Models Who Built Substantial Careers Beyond Modelling

Lee Miller was a Vogue cover model in New York in the late 1920s before moving to Paris, learning photography alongside Man Ray and opening her own studio. As a war correspondent for British Vogue she photographed the Blitz, the liberation of Paris and the camps at Buchenwald and Dachau in 1945, work now ranked among the most important photojournalism of the war.

Nico modelled in Paris and appeared in La Dolce Vita before Andy Warhol paired her with the Velvet Underground for their 1967 debut album. Her solo records, especially The Marble Index (1968) made with John Cale, abandoned pop for stark harmonium drones and are now seen as forerunners of goth and post-punk.

Charlotte Rampling modelled in London as a teenager before small parts in The Knack (1965) and Georgy Girl (1966). Over six decades she has built one of European cinema's most daring careers, from The Night Porter to her work with François Ozon, and 45 Years (2015) brought her an Oscar nomination and the Silver Bear at Berlin.

Twiggy, the face of 1966, largely stopped modelling within a few years and won two Golden Globes for Ken Russell's musical The Boy Friend (1971). She earned a Tony nomination on Broadway in My One and Only (1983) and has since worked steadily as an actor, singer, presenter and designer, long outlasting the brief modelling career that made her famous.

Jessica Lange was a model when she was cast in the 1976 remake of King Kong, a debut so mocked that she struggled for work for several years. She rebuilt her career with The Postman Always Rings Twice and won Oscars for Tootsie and Blue Sky, then added Emmys for American Horror Story and a Tony for Long Day's Journey into Night.

Grace Jones modelled in New York and Paris before signing to Island Records, where her early disco albums found a club audience. Warm Leatherette (1980) and Nightclubbing (1981), recorded in Nassau with Sly and Robbie, reinvented her as a singular new wave and reggae artist, and her stage shows remain events decades later.

Isabella Rossellini became the face of Lancôme in her thirties and was dropped by the brand in the mid-1990s, by her own account for being too old. By then she had made Blue Velvet (1986) with David Lynch, and she went on to write, direct and star in the Green Porno series of short films on animal mating and to take a master's degree in animal behaviour.

Rene Russo was a successful cover model in the 1970s whose bookings dried up as she reached her thirties. She retrained through acting classes and broke through in Major League (1989), then became a 1990s leading lady in Lethal Weapon 3, In the Line of Fire, Get Shorty and The Thomas Crown Affair.

Kathy Ireland, a Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model, founded kathy ireland Worldwide in 1993 by licensing her name for a line of socks. She built it into a large brand-licensing business spanning furniture, home goods and more, a second career that has lasted far longer than her modelling one.

Iman, a Somali-born model who came to New York in 1975, was frustrated for years by make-up artists who did not stock shades for darker skin. In 1994 she launched Iman Cosmetics to fill that gap, building a beauty business for women of colour long before inclusive ranges became an industry talking point.

Charlize Theron left South Africa to model in Europe as a teenager, then moved to Los Angeles and spent years in small parts. Her transformation in Monster (2003) won the Oscar for Best Actress, and roles from Mad Max: Fury Road to Tully, along with her production company Denver and Delilah, have made her one of Hollywood's most powerful actors.

Djimon Hounsou moved from Benin to Paris and was homeless for a time before a photographer introduced him to modelling and work with Thierry Mugler. He turned to acting in Los Angeles, broke through in Steven Spielberg's Amistad (1997), and earned Oscar nominations for In America and Blood Diamond.

Carla Bruni was one of the best-paid models of the 1990s, then quit the runway to write songs. Her debut album Quelqu'un m'a dit (2002), quiet guitar chansons she wrote herself, sold millions in France and won her a Victoire de la Musique, and she has kept recording through and beyond her years as France's first lady.

Tyra Banks created America's Next Top Model in 2003 and ran it as host and executive producer for more than twenty cycles, spawning versions in dozens of countries. Her daytime talk show won Daytime Emmys, and although the show has since been criticised for how it treated contestants, it turned her into a television creator and businesswoman rather than a former model.

Heidi Klum hosted and produced Project Runway from its launch in 2004, a design competition that gave unknown fashion designers a national stage and won a Peabody Award. She also built Germany's Next Topmodel into a long-running hit, making her one of the most durable presenters and producers in reality television on both sides of the Atlantic.

Padma Lakshmi modelled in Europe and the United States before turning to food, publishing her first cookbook in 1999. She hosted Top Chef from 2006 to 2023, and her Hulu series Taste the Nation, which explores immigrant food cultures in America, showed a writer and broadcaster with a point of view of her own.

Karlie Kloss took a coding course at the height of her runway career and in 2015 founded Kode With Klossy, which runs free programming camps for girls and young people. The organisation has taught many thousands of students, a second body of work far removed from the catwalk.

Chrissy Teigen's swimsuit modelling made her famous, but her cooking turned out to be the lasting career. Her first cookbook, Cravings (2016), was a major bestseller, and the follow-ups, a recipe website and a cookware line grew into a food brand built on her frank, funny voice.