50 facts about Marisa Miller

Marisa Miller's 50 facts.

1. Miller was born as Marisa Lee Bertetta in Santa Cruz, California.

2. She considered herself a tomboy growing up, with mostly male friends and little awareness of anything girly.

3. Out of shyness, she often wore large t-shirts to hide her body and would get fully dressed just to go to the trash-can while at the beach.

4. Miller was first "discovered" at age sixteen walking through a San Francisco café by two Italian modeling agents. After talking to her mother, she was on a plane to Italy with her mother a few months later, despite her "shy and conservative" personality.

5. Miller gained attention in 1997 when she appeared in the first issue of Perfect 10 magazine. Although she came in third behind Ashley Degenford and Monica Hansen in Perfect 10 magazine's first annual model search, she was repeatedly showcased in following issues, including the covers of the Winter 1998 and August/September 1999 editions, as well as a reprint for the Fall 2004 edition cover.

6. Her full name is Marisa Lee Miller.

7. She is an American model and actress.

8. Best known for her appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and her work for Victoria's Secret.

9. After a stint shooting with photographer Mario Testino for fashion magazines such as Vogue, Miller began working for both companies in 2002.

10. In 2007, she became a Victoria's Secret Angel.

11. Graced the cover of the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue to record-setting numbers.

12. Her accomplishments have led to her being dubbed the "return of the great American supermodel."

13. She is known for contracts with companies such as Harley-Davidson, for whom she is the first spokesperson in the history of the company, and the NFL, for whom she became a spokesperson in 2010.

14. Aside from modeling, she was an ambassador for both the American Cancer Society and the USO.

15. Miller made her film debut in R.I.P.D..

16. Miller moved from a start as an amateur magazine model to high profile mainstream work after an acquaintance showed a picture of her to famed fashion photographer Mario Testino in 2001. Testino asked to meet Miller, who was running a surf school at the time, and was invited to Manhattan Beach, California, where she would be surfing. Noticing her, Testino snapped pictures of her and approached her with a job offer of editorials for both the American and Italian editions of Vogue. Within six months, Miller was working for Victoria's Secret and the coveted Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, in which she appeared in every issue from 2002 to 2008.

17. She has appeared in a diverse range of magazines, many of them international editions, such as GQ, Maxim, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, and Vanity Fair.

18. She has featured in advertisements for Nordstrom, J.Crew, Guess?, Tommy Hilfiger, Bath & Body Works, and True Religion jeans.

19. It was not until 2007 that she filmed her first television commercial for Victoria's Secret, appearing alongside Heidi Klum for the It bra.

20. On December 4, 2007, Miller made her debut in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, and opened a segment in the following year's edition.

21. Other runway work include 2007's Fashion for Relief show, benefiting victims of Hurricane Katrina, as well as MTV's Fashionably Loud, Imitation of Christ, Inca, and Amir Slama's Rosa Cha, for which she was one of the most anticipated models.

22. Victoria's Secret put her to work in 2008, with a five-city tour to promote the 2008 Swim collection's release in stores; the April-May tour included stops in New York City, Miami, Chicago (where she threw the opening pitch at a Chicago Cubs baseball game), Boston, and Minneapolis.

23. The relaunch of Victoria Secret's sports line, VSX, soon followed, along with her first official campaign as an Angel: promoting the company's fragrance Very Sexy Dare.

24. For the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, Miller was chosen to wear the year's "Fantasy Bra," a harlequin design featuring 2,300 white, champagne, and cognac diamonds, and a 16-carat heart-shaped brown-yellow diamond pendant for a $3-million value and 150 total carats.

25. In a July 2010 interview with Forbes, Miller stated that because the fashion industry had changed, with celebrities supplanting models on magazine covers and in campaigns, supermodels have to become brands to be successful. For that reason, she shifted focus to consumer products reflective of her personality.

26. In July 2008, Miller took her first step beyond modeling when her shoe line with skateboarder/surfer-oriented company Vans launched.

27. Miller starred in a 2008 viral video on YouTube with All Star baseball player Ryan Braun for Remington's ShortCut hair clippers.

28. In 2008, Miller became the first spokesperson in motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson's one-hundred-year history. She first partnered with Harley to launch the VRSCF V-Rod Muscle motorcycle and rejoined the company in November 2009 to act as the face of their first "Military Appreciation Month" campaign, featuring Miller as a classic pin-up in military-themed advertisements and online content.

29. 2010 found her again working for the company, this time for their "Start Something" campaign, encouraging dreamers to become new riders.

30. Miller represented the rum brand Captain Morgan as the company's "Official First Mate" in advertising, social responsibility communication, and event appearances, starting in 2010.

31. In October 2010, the NFL announced Miller had been hired as a spokesperson for the 2010-2011 season, with duties including hosting the NFL International Series game between the San Francisco 49ers and Denver Broncos in London.

32. In 2010, she designed and released a paddle board line with Surftech aimed at female riders.

33. In 2012 she appeared in a beach-theme commercial for Buick.

34. Miller's first work in television was as a judge on the Bravo reality series Manhunt: The Search for America's Most Gorgeous Male Model in 2004.

35. Appeared in Puddle of Mudd's "Spin You Around" music video.

36. 2007 brought appearances in the pilot episode and finale of the VH1 reality show The Shot and cameos in HBO's Entourage and the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother, the latter with her fellow Victoria's Secret Angels.

37. In 2009, she had a guest judge role on an episode of America's Next Top Model.

38. Had a minor role in an episode of Gary Unmarried.

39. In 2010, she co-hosted an episode of GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley.

40. She has appeared in commercials for the NFL Network and the California Travel and Tourism Commission's "Visit California" campaign.

41. She married Jim Miller in 2000.

42. Jim Miller is a Los Angeles surfing contest promoter and lifeguard from California.

43. The couple separated in 2002; they divorced soon after.

44. After the divorce, Marisa continued using the surname Miller.

45. She married music producer Griffin Guess on April 15, 2006.

46. Miller gave birth to the couple's son, Gavin Lee Guess, on December 14, 2012.

47. She gave birth to the couple's second son, Grayson Lee Bazyl Guess, on May 29, 2015.

48. From an early age she loved surfing.

49. In 2004, she placed second in the celebrity division of the Kelly Slater Surf Invitational and says of the sport, "I feel my absolute best-physically, mentally and spiritually-when I'm surfing every day."

50. She also won the most valuable player award at the 4th annual Celebrity Beach Bowl.