Laetitia Casta, French Phenomenon

Laetitia Casta.

Laetitia Marie Laure Casta (born 11 May 1978) is a major French entertainment star. She is a top French actress and model who is one of the most revered celebrities in France.

Beyond that, though, she is one of the most successful models in the world.

Casta was born in Pont-Audemer, Normandy, France. Her mother, Line Blin, is from there, while her father, Dominique Casta, is from Corsica. She is a middle child, having an older brother, Jean-Baptiste, and a younger sister, Marie-Ange. After spending her childhood in Normandy and Corsica, Casta got her big break and became a "GUESS? Girl" in 1993.

She also performed served as a spokesperson for cosmetics company L'Oreal around the same time. Not only that, she walked down the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000 before retiring from that to give some other girls a chance.

Laetitia is one of the top cover girls in the world. She has appeared on over 100 high-quality covers of such popular magazines as:

• Cosmopolitan, 
• Vogue, 
• Rolling Stone, 
• Elle and 
• Glamour. 

She has modeled for such designers as:

• Yves Saint Laurent, 
• Jean-Paul Gaultier, 
• Chanel, 
• Ralph Lauren, 
• Tommy Hilfiger, 
• J. Crew, 
• Louis Vuitton, 
• Givenchy, 
• Roberto Cavalli, 
• Lolita Lempicka, and 
• Vivienne Westwood.

Along with her other achievements, Casta also appeared in three consecutive Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues. She also branched out into acting, appearing in the films Gainsbourg (A Heroic Life), Face and Blue Bicycle, as well as the play Ondine at the theatre Antoine.

Probably Laetitia's proudest moment, though, was in 1999, when she was ranked first in a national survey ordered by the French Mayors Association to decide who should be the new model for the bust of Marianne, an allegorical symbol of the French Republic, which stands inside every French town hall.

2017