Supermodel Gemma Ward a hot act

STRIKING the perfect pout wasn’t the only thing on Australian supermodel Gemma Ward’s mind as she paraded on the Paris catwalk last week.

The world’s No. 1 high fashion stunner is also establishing herself as hot acting property, using her international modelling career to boost her profile for the big screen.

Sydney-based director Elissa Down, who gave the 19-year-old her first taste of acting in 2001 with short film Pink Pyjamas, says Ward oozes X-factor.

Down says when it came to casting a lead actress to star in her directorial feature film debut, The Black Balloon, Ward was top of her wish list.

“When I first saw Gemma all those years ago at just 13, you could tell she was going to make it,” Downs said.

“She is a very natural actor and so engaging. Some people wondered about having a model (in The Black Balloon) and now they have seen her work they are like ‘oh my god’. There is something personally pleasing about that for me. She is just so good.”

The Perth-born performer appears alongside Toni Collette and Jack Thomson as Jackie in the coming-of-age drama, which will hit screens early next year.

Down wrote the part with Ward in mind.

“When we started writing we had Gemma in mind and then bless her cotton socks she went and got famous on us,” she said. “But she was still interested.”

The Black Balloon is Ward’s third film, with her turn as a masked stranger opposite Liv Tyler in suspense thriller The Strangers set for release late next year.

As the world’s 10th highest-earning model, Ward took home $3.4 million in the past year but has scaled back catwalk commitments as acting takes priority.

For the Paris fashion shows last week Ward walked only for the top houses such as Celine, Givenchy and Balmain.

At 19, her new womanly curves were also on show this week filling out the forms of a diaphanous gown at Valentino - a stark contrasts to past years when she was known for “doll like” girlie looks.

Add comment October 8th, 2007

Alice sews up fame as supermodel

SHE was slammed for being too thin, but Australia’s Next Top Model winner Alice Burdeu is having her cake and eating it too after being signed by major US agency Elite Model Management.

The willowy redhead was the star figure at the centre of a raging skinny debate throughout the Fox 8 series earlier this year, but Burdeu has been given the big fat thumbs up by the agency which manages the world’s top catwalkers - including supermodels Gisele Bundchen, Heidi Klum and Naomi Campbell.

Her Australian agency Priscilla’s confirmed the signing and revealed the Vogue covergirl had attracted interest from five agencies during her meet-and-greet trip.

“They were all very interested in signing her but Alice felt the best about Elite and her career will be in fantastic hands there,” Priscilla Leighton-Clark told Confidential yesterday.

“It’s a testament to the kind of show Australia’s Next Top Model has become because Alice is of an international standard and she’s really proved that now - she’s amazing.”

The jetset life has taken off for Burdeu, who is due to head back to the US tomorrow to shoot a campaign for make-up guru Napoleon Perdis, one of the key prizes she collected for winning the Next Top Model crown.

She’ll then spend the next month commuting between Sydney and Manhattan before relocating permanently to the Big Apple, living in one of Elite’s famed “model condos” under the agency’s supervision.

The stellar signing should come as a huge confidence kick for the painfully shy Burdeu, who has openly struggled with poor self-image and insecurity throughout the TV series.

Add comment October 8th, 2007