Kate Upton

Katherine Elizabeth Upton (born June 10, 1992) is an American model and actress.

In 1999, Upton moved with her family to Melbourne, Florida, where she was a student at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy.

As a young equestrian, she showed at the American Paint Horse Association (APHA) and competed at a national level.

With her horse Roanie, she won three APHA Reserve World Championships – 13 and Under Western Riding, 13 and Under Horsemanship, and 14–18 Western Riding.

Upton attended a casting call in Miami for Elite Model Management in 2008 and was signed the same day.

She eventually moved to New York City, where she then signed with IMG Models.

Upton first modeled clothing for Garage and Dooney & Bourke.

With a second horse, Colby, she won 14–18 Western Riding and was included in the top 5 in 14–18 Horsemanship and 14–18 Western Pleasure in 2009.

In addition, she was the subject of the 100th-anniversary Vanity Fair cover.

She was the 2010–11 face of Guess.

She first appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2011, and was the cover model for the 2012, 2013 and 2017 issues.

Upton has also appeared in the films Tower Heist (2011), The Other Woman (2014) and The Layover (2017).

Upton was born in St. Joseph, Michigan.

She is the daughter of Shelley (née Davis), a former Texas state tennis champion, and Jeff Upton, a high school athletics director.

Her uncle is former U.S. Representative Fred Upton.

Upton's great-grandfather, Frederick Upton, was co-founder of appliance manufacturer and marketer Whirlpool Corporation.

In 2011, Upton appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

She was featured in the body paint section and named Rookie of the Year for the issue.

She has since modeled for Beach Bunny Swimwear, and has appeared in Complex and Esquire as "The Woman of the Summer".

In April 2011, an Internet video of her doing the dougie hip-hop dance at a Los Angeles Clippers game went viral and served to increase her popularity.

Guy Trebay of The New York Times observed that this served to illustrate the power of social media to bestow stardom upon a model, which had previously been the domain of top designer runway shows.

Upton made an appearance in a June 2011 episode of Tosh.0 and participated in the 2011 Taco Bell All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, in July 2011.

Upton's acting debut was in the film, Tower Heist, as Mr. Hightower's mistress.

It was released in November 2011.

She also appeared in The Three Stooges as Sister Bernice.

In April 2012, Upton appeared in a video of herself performing the Cat Daddy dance to the song of the same name by The Rej3ctz, which also went viral.

Upton appeared on the cover of the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, released in February 2012.

Upton has also recounted the negative aftereffects of the 2012 Sports Illustrated cover, as she was subjected to criticism and felt she had been objectified.

Upton has appeared in editorials for American, Italian, British, Spanish, German, and Brazilian Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, V, Mademoiselle, LOVE, Italian, German, and American GQ, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Esquire.

She has appeared on the covers of Italian, American, and British Vogue, French and American Elle, American, Italian, and German GQ, Esquire, and Vanity Fair.

She has appeared in advertising campaigns for David Yurman, Sam Edelman, Betsey Johnson, Guess?, Victoria's Secret, Express, and Bare Necessities.

In 2012, she was ranked the fifth-sexiest model by Models.com She ranked #3 on the American publication of AskMen's Top 99 Women for 2013.

In 2012, she was listed on Maxims Hot 100 list, citing her photo shoots with Sports Illustrated.

After getting the November 2012 Vogue Italia cover photographed by Steven Meisel and the January 2013 Vogue UK cover, Upton landed the June 2013 Vogue cover by Mario Testino.

She was named the 13 and Under Reserve All-Around Champion, giving her a total of four reserve championships (2nd place).

In addition, Upton ended up third overall on the APHA youth Top Twenty.

Upton was the cover model for the 2013 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue for the second consecutive year.

Parts of her 2013 Sports Illustrated pictorial were filmed in Antarctica and Upton suffered from failing hearing and eyesight due to the extreme cold.

Upton wore one of the Beach Bunny suits in the 2014 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

She was named the "new face" of Bobbi Brown cosmetics in 2014.