Carolina Ardohain
By Sara
Templeton
The name Carolina Ardohain may not ring any
bells for most people in Australia, but in South America, she's
considered to be quite the celebrity.
Starting off in modeling, she's slowly
working her way into television and even movies, but with a touch more
class and seriousness than your average cat-walker turned movie-star.
In her home country of Argentina she is
worshipped like an ancient goddess of beauty, with millions of
young Argentine girls wanting to be like her, and boys wanting to be
seen with her.
She has been slowly working her way into the
more lucrative North America market, with recent campaigns for big-name
underwear labels, and intriguingly, most industry insiders agree that
given the right opportunity, Carolina could be one of the most
marketable faces (and bodies) since Cindy Crawford.
Discovered by what the local Argentinians
call a 'super-agent' for his uncanny ability to pick up-and-comers,
Pancho Dotto came across Carolina in 1999 and has since watched her
rise steadily through the modeling ranks.
It's also changing the way people think
about 'South American' models in general, where most would just think
of Brazilian's like Adriana Lima and Gisele Bündchen, they are now
starting to look at the continent as a whole - surely a good thing.
Ana Carolina Ardohain Dos Santos, or
"Pampita" as she's often called in Argentina, was born on January 17,
1981 in Santa Rosa, La Pampa, and began studying ballet in her teens.
For nine years she studied ballet and her
love of dance and movement is still evident not only in interviews, but
also in her modeling work.
Her discovery by agent Pancho Dotto came
about after the store she was working at - essentially a new label
doing rather well for itself - decided to shoot a television ad using
strictly non-models. Suffice to say, Carolina was one of the models
chosen and old Dotto was quick to sign her up.
And just days after the deal was inked,
Carolina flew to Mexico to do perform in her first ad campaign. The
rest, as the cliché goes, is history.
Following her indoctrination into the
razzle-dazzle world of fashion and modeling, Pampita appeared in more
than 40 different magazines in some 12 months, which is testament to
not only her booming popularity, but also her solid work ethic.
And if the work involved in still
photography, working for the likes of Victoria's Secret and Wonderbra
wasn't enough, Carolina scored a gig to host her own TV variety shows,
El Rayo and El Sitio, which went on to rate well, garnering a highly
loyal fan-base.
Idicative of her superstar power, Carolina
was voted to be the national soccer team's representative, or Godmother
as many were calling her. This was during the 2002 Korea/Japan World
Cup and was proof of her amazing popularity in the soccer-obsessed
country.
She's starred in other Latin American TV
shows since, and given her far-from-wooden performances, she could well
go on to be Argentina's next big star. With her amazing Latino looks
and hard-working attitude, not to mention hundreds of fan-sites on the
web, Pampita isn't likely to fade into the background anytime soon.
Links
Carolina
Ardohain (Official site)
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