Lily Cole
Cole at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Lily Luahana Cole c. January 1988[1][2][3][4] Torquay, Devon, England, UK
Height	5 ft 10.5 in (1.79 m)[2]
Hair colour	Red
Eye colour	Blue
Measurements	32-25-35 (US); 81-63,5-89 (EU)[2]
Dress size	34 (EU), 4 (US), 6 (UK)[2]
Manager	Storm Models, London (mother Agency) IMG Models, New York Marilyn Agency, Paris D'Management Group, Milan PFD, London (acting)

Lily Luahana Cole^[5] (born c. January 1988)^[1][6] is an English model and actress. She has become one of the iconic faces of her generation, listed by Vogue Paris as one of the top 30 models of the 2000s, and having studied acting since her childhood took to her first lead role as Valentina in Terry Gilliam's fantasy film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus in 2009.^[5]

Although never taking up modeling full time, she has still carved herself an incredible career having been booked for her first British Vogue cover at the age of 16, and working with many prestigious brands over the years, including Vogue worldwide, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Jean Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs, Prada, De Beers and Moschino. Cole has featured in several well-known publications, including Vogue (US, UK, Italian, Japanese), other fashion clients have included Numero, V, Pop, Dazed, Citizen K, Christian Lacroix, Chanel, Hermès, Galliano, Louis Vuitton, Jean Paul Gaultier and Marc Jacobs. Advertising campaigns include Longchamp, Anna Sui, Hermès, Moschino, Prada, Chanel, Cacharel, Moschino fragrance, and Ghost fragrance. She has a lucrative cosmetics contract with beauty brand Rimmel London and can be seen in TVC and print advertising as part of her work with them, attracting controversy in 2008 by appearing naked in a pictorial for Playboy magazine's French edition. Cole has also appeared in advertisements for companies such as high street retailer Marks and Spencer.

Cole is passionate about fair-trade and sustainability in business and only works with brands that follow the same ethos, doing her research before committing to modeling campaigns. For example, when she was asked to be the face of De Beers, Lily went to the Kalahari to see for herself the work their charity was doing.^[5]

Cole's modeling career was launched by a chance encounter with Benjamin Hart in Soho, London when she was 14.

After several minor acting roles, starting with St Trinian's in 2007, Cole's first leading role was as Valentina in the 2009 film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, in which she starred alongside Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law. Her other film work includes a short directed by Shekhar Kapur called Passages,^[7] and There Be Dragons, directed by Roland Joffe.^[8]

In June, 2011, Cole was awarded a Double First in History of Art at the University of Cambridge.^[9]

Early and personal life[link]

Cole was born in Torquay, Devon, and brought up in London, along with one of her two sisters.^[10] She was brought up by her mother, Patience Owen, an artist and writer; her father, Chris Cole, was a boat builder and fisherman.^[11][12][13] Cole attended the St Marylebone Church School for Girls, before completing her sixth form studies at Latymer Upper School, an independent school in Hammersmith, London. A chance encounter began her modelling career at the age of 14.

In April 2007, Cole first featured in the Sunday Times Rich List, which estimated her net worth at £6 million,^[14][15] ranking her as the 77th-richest young person in the United Kingdom.^[16] As of 2009, she is thought to have earned in excess of £11 million.^[11]

Despite her successful modelling career, Cole retains a commitment to her education, achieving A grades in her A-level examinations in English, Politics, Drama, History and Philosophy and Ethics at Latymer Upper School.^[17][18] Before Latymer School, Cole attended Hallfield Primary School (Bayswater, London) and St Marylebone Secondary School.^[19]

Cole gained a place to read Social and Political Sciences at King's College, Cambridge,^[18][20] but twice deferred entry^[21][22] before switching to study History of Art, which she commenced in the Michaelmas term, 2008, gaining a First in her examinations at the end of her first year,^[23] and again in her second year examinations, one of seven members of her year to achieve the grade.^[24] Asked about the change of course, Cole explained, "I like doing things I haven't learnt about yet. I've always been interested in art, and I love doing art."^[18] Speaking to Judy Rumbold of The Irish Independent, she said, "the decision came from the vague notion that it might be a wise thing to do, that when I was 50, 60, 70, I'd look back and be glad I did it".^[25] She gave an interview for the Daily Telegraph in December 2009 in which she admitted she struggled to settle in to her first year at Cambridge, conceding she was "a bit shell-shocked, but I think everyone finds that".^[26]

Cole was in a relationship with American actor Enrique Murciano, star of television series Without a Trace.^[11][12] As of February 2011, the pair are reported to have broken up after two and half years of dating.^[27]

In an interview given in January 2010, Cole admitted, "I definitely never thought of myself as model material. Me on a catwalk with all these superwomen?" adding that "if a designer says I inspire them, I'm still not sure how that happened". Cole went on to reveal that her modelling career gave her "a lot of self confidence, which I didn’t have in the past".^[28] In February 2010, Cole was voted the fourth "sexiest redhead of all time", after Florence Welch, Prince Harry of Wales, and Nicola Roberts in a poll conducted by the Daily Mirror.^[27]

Modelling career[link]

Lily Cole in Trafalgar Square, London in 2006

Magazines and fashion shows[link]

Cole's distinctive red hair has attracted significant media attention. She is also recognised for what Entertainment magazine described as her porcelain doll-like beauty.^{[29][not in citation given]} Cole's modelling career was sparked from a chance encounter while walking through Soho when she was approached by Benjamin Hart, who asked her to consider modelling. She initially declined, later saying, "I was cynical enough to think it wouldn't come to much",^[25] though she later changed her mind and signed to Storm Models.^[17][30]

Her break came in 2003 when she caught the eye of photographer Steven Meisel.^[23] It was on that photoshoot, her first "only girl" story for Italian Vogue, that Cole was "catapulted into the spotlight" as one of the leading new faces of the year.^[14][23] Since then, Cole has worked with many other prominent photographers, including Craig McDean, Nick Knight, Juergen Teller, Arthur Elgort and Irving Penn.

At the 2004 British Fashion Awards, Cole was named "Model of the Year".^[14][31] She has since made appearances on the covers of many fashion magazines including, amongst others, the American, Italian, British, Japanese and Korean editions of Vogue, Citizen K, V^[20] and Vogue^[32] as well as featuring on Vogue's "best dressed" list in December 2005. She has also had cover appearances on Numéro and Interview.^[33]

She has modeled on the international runway circuit and at many fashion shows on behalf of Chanel, Shiatzy Chen, DKNY, Jean Paul Gaultier, Versace, Alexander McQueen, Jasper Conran,^[34] John Galliano and Louis Vuitton.^[23][35] She was nominated, for the second time, for the "Model of the Year" award at the 2007 British Fashion Awards^[36] and, in December 2009, was listed by Vogue Paris as one of the top 30 models of the 2000s.^[37]

Cole's modelling career continued in 2010. She made a cover appearance on the January 2010 issue of the Canadian Elle, as well as giving an interview to the magazine^[32] and opening Hermès's winter 2010/2011 collection at Paris Fashion Week in March, wearing a black leather catsuit and bowler hat.^[38]

Towards the end of 2010, she featured in a documentary chronicling the career of Rolf Harris in which he painted her dressing up as the Queen of the fairies from A Midsummer Night's Dream.^[39]

Nude appearances[link]

Cole made her first nude appearance in 2007, when she was photographed naked by Juergen Teller in a shoot showing full frontal nudity for Paradis, an upmarket French men's magazine.^[20][40]

She went on to appear nude in, and on the front cover of, the French edition of Playboy magazine in October 2008.^[41][42] However, there is no frontal nudity or topless pictures in this pictorial. The shoot was inspired by the cover of French musician Serge Gainsbourg's 1971 album Histoire de Melody Nelson^[43] and attracted controversy, with calls for Cole to be dropped from her contract with British high street chain Marks and Spencer.^[44][45] However, M&S stated that it "stood by Lily",^[46] arguing she "is a popular, high profile, model who is very much in demand, and this is one of the key reasons why we have chosen to work with her".^[47] A spokesperson for M&S insisted, "It's entirely her own choice as to what other work she accepts and we would not wish to interfere with her career."^[48] Cole herself defended the photographs as art, saying "Nudity has always existed in art ... it doesn't necessarily 'debase' anymore than it celebrates ... the human body".^[49] Robin Simon, editor of the British Art Journal compared the work to Manet's Olympia despite the criticism.^[49] Cole also featured topless in the 2010 edition of the Pirelli Calendar alongside Daisy Lowe and Dutch model Marloes Horst.^[50][51] In 2010, Cole appears in an implied nude image on the cover of photographer Rankin's thematic book of nudes Painting Pretty Pictures.^[52]

Advertising[link]

Cole has appeared in advertising campaigns for Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Hermès, Longchamp, Cacharel, Topshop and Anna Sui cosmetics, as well as being the face for Moschino's perfume "I Love Love".^[18]

In September 2007, Cole was announced as the follow-up model for Accessorize, taking the place of Claudia Schiffer,^[53] also designing a line of handbags for the collection.^[54]

Cole has been modelling for cosmetics company Rimmel London since October 2009,^[23][55][56] as well as featuring in advertisements for jewellers Tiffany & Co.^[57] Cole, along with Twiggy and other models became a "face" of Marks and Spencer clothes advertising campaign, making the youngest model to ever do a campaign for the line,^[58] though her contract was not renewed by M&S in late 2009 as the company struggled as a result of the financial crisis.^[59] Although having expressed a desire to focus more on her acting career, Cole launched a campaign in June 2010 at Gatwick Airport for modelling agency, Storm Model Management. The campaign aims to find new modelling talent from people passing through the airport, with the agency hoping to re-create the discovery of Kate Moss, who was spotted at JFK Airport, New York City in 1988 by the agency's founder.^[60][61]

In March 2012, the Body Shop launched its Beauty With Heart campaign, making Lily Cole the company's first ambassador.^[62] She declared: "This runs much deeper than just being the face of a campaign, it’s really important, so it’s a really exciting project to be part of!"^[63]

Acting career[link]

Films[link]

Cole promoting The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival in September 2009

Marilyn Manson announced in February 2006 that he intended to cast Cole in his upcoming film Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll as Alice.^[64] Shorts from the movie have been featured on his website and a feature length film is also planned, though it is unknown if or when it will be released.^[18]

Cole made her acting debut as Polly the geek in the 2007 comedy St. Trinian's, a rework of the black and white films of the 1950s and '60s,^[65] alongside Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Russell Brand, Jodie Whittaker and Stephen Fry.^[66]

However, Cole's first leading role came in Terry Gilliam's 2009 fantasy film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Cole played Valentina, the teenage daughter of Christopher Plummer's title character, Dr Parnassus, whom Parnassus has promised to the Devil (Tom Waits) upon her 16th birthday.^[67][68] Acting alongside Heath Ledger (who died before filming had finished), Cole, in an interview for the Daily Telegraph admitted that, at times, she felt out of her depth in the role- saying “I’d only done a couple of films and here I was surrounded by amazing actors like Christopher Plummer and Heath Ledger, and it was intimidating at times,”^[23] also describing the role as "the biggest role I’ve ever done".^[23] Terry Gilliam, director of Parnassus, when asked, said of Cole: “She has an amazing look and grasps what is required so very quickly. If she wants a career as an actress, she has a brilliant future”.^[23] According to Mark Olsen of The Los Angeles Times, writing as Parnassus was released in the United States, "Cole brings a surprising well of emotional tenderness to her part as Valentina",^[67] while Ryan Michael Painter wrote of the film on 'inthisweek.com' that "all of the performances are delightful, particularly Cole's as Valentina, proving that the haute couture model has more to offer this world than a pretty face".^[69]

Cole also appeared at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival in December 2009 to promote Parnassus.^[70]

She also featured as herself in one episode of the online series T Takes, a series of short, improvised films published by The New York Times.^[71]

Cole also appeared as "Lettuce Leaf", a celebrity supermodel in the 2009 film, Rage directed by Sally Potter.^[18] Cole originally auditioned for the part of Minx, which later went to Jude Law, with whom Cole had worked on Parnassus.^[18]

Cole plays the minor part of "Aline" in the film There Be Dragons, released in 2011.^[18]

In January 2010, Cole gave an interview to the Canadian edition of Elle in which she expressed her desire to focus more on acting than on her modelling career, saying she "wouldn't want to treat acting as a convenient thing to do now and again", going on to mention her roles in the upcoming films There Be Dragons and Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll and saying of her modelling "I've been doing modelling for years and I feel like I've taken out of it what I need to and I'm ready for new things"^[72] and that "film asks for a much bigger emotional and intellectual commitment."^[32]

Released in 2012, Cole will have a part in Mary Harron's The Moth Diaries.^[67]

Other roles[link]

Cole made a minor appearance in the music video for the Girls Aloud/Sugababes cover of "Walk This Way" in aid of the British telethon charity Comic Relief, in which she struts up and down a catwalk in "hilarious ways", interspersed by the bands and several well-known British television personalities.^[73] Cole had another minor role in Primal Scream's 2008 video "Can’t Go Back", in which she and other models featured in a horror-style video based on the films of Dario Argento. The models, including Cole, are graphically "murdered" and "meet their ends in rather striking ways" with the aim of looking "hot even when dead".^[74]

It was reported in October 2009 that Cole would be making her stage debut at the Old Vic Theatre in London's West End at the theatre's annual "24 Hour Plays" held in November, but "scheduling commitments" forced her to pull out.^[75] Cole ultimately made her stage debut at the ADC Theatre in Cambridge, as Nina in a student production of The Seagull.

Cole appeared in "The Curse of the Black Spot", the third episode of the sixth series of science fiction series Doctor Who, in May 2011. She played a Sea Siren.^[76]

Campaign work[link]

Charity work[link]

Cole supports a variety of humanitarian and environmental causes.^[20] She is an ambassador for children's charity Global Angels.^[77] She also supports the charity WaterAid, speaking for the organisation's "End Water Poverty" campaign,^[14] and the Environmental Justice Foundation^[18][78] Cole has modelled a T-shirt with the slogan "Save the Future" to fight child labour in the fashion industry for the Environmental Justice Foundation.^[79] Most recently Cole put a plaster cast bust of her torso on the auction site eBay to raise money for British telethon charity Comic Relief.^[14][80]

In December 2009, Cole attended a party, hosted by Elton John for which guests were asked to design their ideal bar with the designs then sold at auction in aid of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.^[81][82]

Lily devotes much of her spare time to ethical causes – over the years she has lent real support to various charities including WWF, Christian Aid and the Ethical Justice Foundation.

In October 2010 Lily helped launch the World Land Trust’s Emerald for Elephant Exhibition, which was designed to create awareness and raise important funds for the protection of the critically endangered Asian elephant.^[83]

Environmental campaigning[link]

Cole is an ally for Western Shoshone, an environmental organisation specialising in work to halt gold and diamond mining, which is alleged to displace indigenous peoples worldwide and alleged to create excessive amounts of mining waste and toxins.^[84][85] As the face of De Beers, Lily went to the Kalahari to see for herself the work their charity was doing to support the plight of the Bushmen. While there she discovered their hand-crafted ostrich eggshell jewellery and introduced the range to various prestigious retailers including Dover Street Market, London, where it is still being sold.

Cole has been seen wearing the £5 eco-friendly Anya Hindmarch handbag bearing the slogan "I'm Not A Plastic Bag"^[86] and wrote the foreword for Tamsin Blanchard's 2007 book Green Is The New Black, a guide to being fashionable while remaining eco-friendly.^[87] She also had involvement in creating an environmentally friendly knitwear company, the North Circular, whose products are made from the wool of rescued sheep,^[25] from which 5% of all profits, and all of Cole's, are donated to the Environmental Justice Foundation.^[88] She launched a womenswear range for the company in February 2010.^[89]

As part of her modelling work for Marks and Spencer, Cole's face (along with that of Twiggy) appears on a range of alternative shopping bags launched by the retailer in efforts to reduce the number of plastic carrier bags it gives out.^[90]

Filmography[link]

Cole with Parnassus co-star Tom Waits at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lily Cole

• Lily Cole at the Internet Movie Database
• Lily Cole at the Fashion Model Directory