BARES ALL
Emily Ratajkowski wants her voice to be heard, and she will make sure of that. Whether it’s on her Instagram (which has a total of 22.9 million followers), at a protest, or during an interview, this actress, model, feminist, and entrepreneur will never bite her tongue!
Ratajkowski has always been a creative, outspoken free-spirit, and it began through her upbringing in California. She was born in London, England to two American parents: her mom is an English professor and her dad, a painter. She often went back and forth between England and the U.S., but was mostly raised in Encinitas, California. Artistry was always around her growing up because of the creative nature of both of her parents’ professions. Being around her dad’s paintings caused her to fall in love with art. She took up drawing and painting on her own, hobbies that she still enjoys today, and even studied in the field when she was a student at UCLA.
Her childhood also caused her to fall in love with theatre, sparking up dreams of becoming an actress one day—a dream she was able to live up to. Her parents would take her to plays every Friday in London, allowing her to see famous ones like Cats and Les Misérables. She participated in small plays and even landed a role in a Drama called A Year and a Day (2005) when she was 14. However, the roles weren’t consistent and she was having some difficulty fully getting into the acting business. Following the suggestion of a family friend, she transitioned into modeling, moving to L.A. and getting signed to Ford Models, in the hope that it would help launch her acting career. Her on-screen appearances were slow at first as she focused on modeling. She appeared in two episodes in the hit Nickelodeon show iCarly in 2009 and 2010, and made an appearance in Maroon 5’s music video for “Love Somebody” in 2012, but she was still relatively unknown. She was pursuing a degree in Visual Arts at UCLA, but after a year she dropped out to take her modeling career more seriously.
At first, she landed small modeling gigs for retailers like Nordstrom and Kohl’s, but her first big break came when she posed for treats!, a fashionable erotica magazine, in 2012. It was through this magazine that she landed her first ever cover. On the cover of treats! Issue 3, she posed fully nude in black and white. It was such a commanding image that it actually grabbed the attention of singer-songwriter Robin Thicke. It wasn’t long before he reached out to Emily to ask her to be in his “Blurred Lines” music video in March of 2013. At first, she turned down the project, not wanting to be typecast as a “hot music video girl” as she had been in the past. “I didn’t want to get pigeonholed into doing music videos,” she admitted.
However, after meeting with the video director and learning more about the playful video, she accepted. “The attitude was silly…” Emily said, “There isn’t this taking yourself seriously and trying to be sexy [thing].”
When the video for “Blurred Lines” finally released, the most popular question that kept being asked was, “Who is that brown haired girl with red lipstick?” Suddenly, everyone wanted to know who Emily Ratajkowski was. “Blurred Lines” peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was deemed “Billboard’s Song of the Summer” that year. The wild popularity finally allowed Emily to finally be widely seen and acknowledged, carving the path towards the superstardom that she is at today.
That year proved to be a wild ride for Ratajkowski as she was soon named “Woman of the Year” by Esquire and one of 2013’s “20 Hottest Sex Symbols” by Rolling Stone. The following year, in 2014, she continued to reap benefits from the music video. Sports Illustrated Swimsuit included her in their 50th anniversary issue, and she also landed covers for Cosmopolitan and GQ. Her original goal of becoming an actress also resurfaced as a great opportunity presented itself: she was cast in the movie Gone Girl alongside Ben Affleck. She played Annie Fitzgerald, a writer and Affleck’s mistress in the film. She received critical praise for her acting, and she slowly began to receive more roles, just as she had always desired.
In 2015, she landed a small cameo in Entourage as herself and then appeared in a few episodes of a TV mini-series, The Spoils Before Dying. Her next notable role came that same year in August when she landed her first leading part in the Romantic Drama We Are Your Friends with Zac Efron. She kept busy with her modeling career as well, juggling both, as she returned to Sports Illustrated Swimsuit for yet another issue. This time she was photographed in Kauai, Hawaii, posing in colorful swimsuits in rainforests and streams. That same year also marked Ratajkowski’s runway debut! She walked for Marc Jacobs during New York Fashion Week, proving to the world that she’s a triple threat. “The show itself was such a happening,” Rata said, “Each girl’s look was like a character Marc had created just for us. It made all of us feel special and beautiful in our own way.”
That certainly wasn’t the first of Emily’s runway stunners. Since then, she’s gone on to walk during both the Paris Fashion Week and Milan Fashion Week for famous designers like Miu Miu, Versace, and Dolce & Gabbana. Her magazine covers became more and more grand as she landed Marie Claire, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, and multiple covers of Vogue, including Vogue Mexico, Vogue Spain, Vogue Italia, and more. Her acting roles didn’t slow down either. Since her movie with Efron, she’s starred in the 2016 Netflix series Easy, the Drama Romance Cruise (2018), the Rom-Com I Feel Pretty (2018), alongside her friend Amy Schumer; the Mystery Thriller In Darkness (2018), and Thriller Welcome Home,alongside Aaron Paul. Rata considers Welcome Home her first real lead role—she plays the girlfriend of Aaron Paul’s character as they navigate both their relationship and a sinister homeowner during their vacation in the Italian countryside. “[Welcome Home] is something I’m really proud of…I feel good about my performance. That’s a really nice feeling, especially since you can’t control the rest of the film,” Emily shares.
With all of this modeling and acting, it may seem like Emily is just another celebrity, going through the motions of reading lines and carrying out poses in photoshoots. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, Emily Ratajkowski is one of the most outspoken celebrities out there right now. She’s boldly political and feminist, standing up for issues she believes in, showing up to protests, and spreading awareness on Instagram to her millions of followers. Due to Rata’s trademark sensuality and confidence, she’s gotten a lot of hate from both men and women, but to her, it’s just noise in the background. “…if a woman still feels empowered, despite the negative influences in her life, we should never reject her,” Emily says, referencing the hate she’s gotten due to her own unique way of empowering herself. “Whatever you want to wear, however you want to present yourself, whatever your profession wants to be—you should not be judged on how you use your body, or don’t use your body, as a woman. It should be completely separate.”
It’s no secret that Ratajkowski is a sex symbol. With her curvaceous figure and her flirtatious looks, she’s garnered lots of attention for her image. It’s her own special brand, one that she has completely curated for herself, and she uses it to her advantage on any platform she can. She posts her own sexy pictures on her Instagram for her followers, showing off just how comfortable she really is in her own skin. This passion towards feminism and female sexual liberation led to her actually becoming an entrepreneur—through the creation of her own fashion brand, Inamorata. The name works as a double meaning, leaning into a similar sounding version of her name, but also carrying a powerful definition. “It has the Rata in it, but it means female lover, or like muse. And the idea to me is that it’s not just like a man’s idea of a siren—you love yourself, right? So, you’re your own muse,” Emily explains. The collection includes swimsuits, lingerie, and other pieces such as dresses, skirts, tops, bodysuits, and shorts.
inamoratawoman.com
So what else is on the horizon for this triple threat of a woman? Well, besides using her voice to make a difference and inspire others, she’s got a couple of projects that are coming up. This month, on July 12th, her new Crime Drama movie, Lying and Stealing, will arrive in theaters. In the film she plays Elyse, a con woman and aspiring actress that teams up with Theo James’ character, Ivan, a thief who steals high-end art, for a huge heist. She also has an NBC sitcom titled Bright Futures in the works, which will be a similar show to Friends that follows twentysomethings navigating life in a big city. It doesn’t have an official air date yet, but fans are eagerly waiting! Make sure to keep an eye on Em Rata, her star is continuing to rise as she launches herself into new projects and inspires many with her unapologetic confidence.
By Selene Rivera