Cara Delevingne

Cara Jocelyn Delevingne ( ; born 12 August 1992) is an English model and actress. She signed with Storm Management after leaving school in 2009. Delevingne won Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2012 and 2014, and has also received three Teen Choice Awards and nominations for a British Independent Film Award and an MTV Movie & TV Award.

Delevingne started her acting career with a minor role in the 2012 film adaptation of ''Anna Karenina'' by Joe Wright. Her most notable roles include Margo Roth Spiegelman in the romantic mystery film '' Paper Towns'' (2015), the Enchantress in the comic book film ''Suicide Squad'' (2016), and Laureline in Luc Besson's ''Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets'' (2017).

Early life

Cara Jocelyn Delevingne was born on 12 August 1992, in Hammersmith, London. Her parents are property developer Charles Hamar Delevingne and his wife Pandora Stevens. She grew up in Belgravia, London, with two older sisters, including Poppy Delevingne, and a paternal half-brother. She has 16 godparents, among them are actress Joan Collins, Eton provost and former Condé Nast International president Sir Nicholas Coleridge, and Annette "Scruff" Howard from the Howard family.

Delevingne's maternal grandfather was publishing executive and English Heritage chairman Sir Jocelyn Stevens. Her paternal grandmother was Hon. Angela Delevingne and her maternal grandmother was Jane Armyne Sheffield, herself a granddaughter of Berkeley Sheffield, 6th Baronet, Sir Lionel Faudel-Phillips, 3rd Baronet and Armyne Gordon of Huntly, of Clan Gordon, as well as a descendant of the House of de Vere (through Sheffields), the House of Orange-Nassau, French kings, Anglo-Norman kings, and the House of Limburg-Stirum through Mathilde van Limburg Stirum. Furthermore, Jane Sheffield was a lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret.

Delevingne attended the independent Bedales School in Steep, Hampshire from 2003 to 2009. She has dyspraxia and found school challenging. In June 2015, in an interview with '' Vogue'', Delevingne talked about her battle with depression when she was 15: "I was hit with a massive wave of depression and anxiety and self-hatred, where the feelings were so painful that I would slam my head against a tree to try to knock myself out."

Career

2002–2011: Career beginnings and public breakthrough

Delevingne had her first modelling job at age ten in an editorial shot by Bruce Weber for ''Vogue Italia'' alongside model Lady Eloise Anson. She signed with Storm Management in 2009. She worked in the industry for a year before booking a paying job and went through two seasons of castings before landing her first runway show.

Delevingne was scouted by Burberry's Christopher Bailey in 2012 while working part-time in the office of a fashion website. Bailey cast her in the company's spring/summer 2011 campaign.

Delevingne's first catwalk appearance was at the February 2011 London Fashion Week, walking for the Burberry Prorsum A/W collection. Later that year, she opened and closed the Burberry Prorsum S/S 2012 collection.

She commenced the early 2012 season by walking in the Chanel Haute-Couture spring show at the Grand Palais.

New York Fashion Week was the first of the "big four" fashion weeks, where Delevingne walked in nine shows for fashion houses including Jason Wu, Rag & Bone, Thakoon, Donna Karan, Tory Burch, Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera. During London Fashion Week, she exclusively walked for the Burberry Prorsum Womenswear A/W 2012 show. She walked in six shows during the Milan Fashion Week, and walked for Fendi, Trussardi, Moschino, Blumarine, DSquared² and Dolce & Gabbana.

Paris Fashion Week was the final week of Fashion Month, in which she walked in seven shows for Nina Ricci, Sonia Rykiel, Cacharel, Stella McCartney, Paul & Joe, Kenzo and Chanel. This was the beginning of what would turn out to be a longlasting professional relationship with Chanel's head designer and creative director, Karl Lagerfeld. In an interview with ''Elle'' after the show, Lagerfeld said, "Cara is different. She's full of life, full of pep. I like girls to be wild but at the same time beautifully brought up and very funny."

The international Fashion Month began again in September 2012, to showcase spring/summer collections for 2013. During New York Fashion Week, she walked for designers including Marc Jacobs, Oscar de la Renta and Marchesa. She walked exclusively for Burberry in London. She followed this appearance by walking in shows for Sass & Bide, Issa, Preen, Topshop, Mary Katrantzou, Giles, and Matthew Williamson.

For Milan Fashion Week, she walked for Moschino, Emilio Pucci, Ermanno Scervino, Ports 1961, Anteprima, Iceberg, Gabriele Colangelo, Anthony Vaccarello, and Just Cavalli. For Paris Fashion Week, she walked for designers such as Cacharel, Louis Vuitton, and Costume National. Over this season she had walked in over 50 shows. Delevingne then went on to appear in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on 7 November 2012. She featured in the 'Pink is US' section and walked during Justin Bieber's performance of 'Beauty And A Beat'. The show aired on 4 December 2012.

She took part in the Chanel pre-fall 2013 show in Scotland with the runway around the courtyard of Linlithgow Palace. The collection, designed by Karl Lagerfeld, was called "Paris-Edimbourg" and inspired by Scottish style using tartan fabrics. The show renewed media interest in the possibility of restoring the roof of the palace. Delevingne walked in the Chanel Haute-Couture spring show and followed this up with an appearance in the Valentino Haute Couture show before flying to New York to take part in New York Fashion Week, the first fashion week of the year.

Her first appearance in New York was for Jason Wu. She subsequently walked for Rag & Bone, Tommy Hilfiger, Diane von Furstenberg, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Rodarte, Derek Lam, DKNY, Carolina Herrera, Tory Burch, Jeremy Scott, Oscar de la Renta, Michael Kors, Anna Sui and finally Marc Jacobs' rearranged show, due to a delay in transportation of goods for the show due to the February 2013 nor'easter.

During London Fashion Week, she walked for Sister by Sibling, Issa, Topshop, Mulberry, Matthew Williamson, Peter Pilotto, Burberry, and Giles. After this Delevingne walked in another seven shows at the Milan Fashion Week for Fendi, Ports 1961, DSquared², Etro, Versace, Iceberg and Pucci. In Paris, Delevingne walked in eleven shows for Katie Grand's collaboration with Tod's Hogan brand, H&M, Lanvin, Vanessa Bruno, Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Stella McCartney, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Hakaan and Louis Vuitton. Delevingne's association with Katie Grand's collection went further than a catwalk show appearance as Delevingne sang 'I Want Candy' in the mini film called 'Gang', which is the title of the Katie Grand Loves Hogan 2013 collection and the name of the large-format magazine created to celebrate the collaboration. In between the two international catwalk seasons, Delevingne was featured in Chanel's Cruise show which took place in Singapore. It was the first time Chanel had held this event in Asia and was held at the Loewen Cluster at Dempsey Hill, a British army barracks turned Singapore Armed Forces manpower base.

The international fashion weeks began again in September 2013, to showcase spring/summer collections for 2014, in which Delevingne appeared. In London, she walked in five shows. She opened for Mulberry and closed for Burberry and Topshop as well as walking Peter Pilotto and Giles. In Milan, Delevingne only walked for Fendi; she walked in just three shows in Paris for Stella McCartney, Chanel and Valentino. She rounded off the year by again appearing in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

2012–2014: Transition to acting and continued modelling

Delevingne played her first film role in the 2012 film adaptation of ''Anna Karenina'', as Princess Sorokina, the marriage interest of Count Vronsky, alongside Keira Knightley. In August 2013, Delevingne voiced a DJ of a pop radio station in the video game ''Grand Theft Auto V''.

Delevingne went on to play the part of Melanie in the British psychological thriller film '' The Face of an Angel,'' accompanied by Daniel Brühl and Kate Beckinsale. The film received mixed reviews, but many critics commended Delevingne's performance. One such example is '' The Metro'' which commented that, "In her first major film role, she proves she can act with a sweet and playful on-screen presence. She brings a sense of vitality that is desperately missing from the rest of the film."

On 24 October 2014, she starred in a sketch for an annual 90-minute comedy TV event called ''The Feeling Nuts Comedy Night,'' which aired on Channel 4 and was designed to raise awareness of testicular cancer. A month later, she featured in South African group Die Antwoord's music video for their song "Ugly Boy". Then in December 2014, Delevingne starred in ''Reincarnation'', a short film by Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel alongside Pharrell Williams and Geraldine Chaplin.

In Milan, she opened Fendi's F/W 2014 collection for Karl Lagerfeld, before modelling for Stella McCartney in Paris. Her absence in New York was noticed due to Delevingne going from walking in 'just about every single show out there' to only walking in the Marc Jacobs show in 2013. News outlets wrote headlines such as, "Will Cara Delevingne Walk in New York Fashion Week?" in the run up to the fashion week.

Delevingne appeared in a Burberry fragrance advertisement alongside British supermodel Kate Moss.

In the second international fashion month, she opened and closed Topshop's 'Unique S/S 15' collection in London, before going to Milan, where she also opened the Fendi S/S 15 show. In Paris, she walked in four shows for Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel and Stella McCartney. She finished 2014 with the Metiers d'Art Pre-Fall 2015/2016 collection showcase. The event was held at the Hotel Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria.

On 10 March, Delevingne closed the showcase of Chanel's Paris-Salzberg collection and closed a reshow of the collection in New York on 31 March.

In 2015, Delevingne appeared in advertisements for YSL Beauté, co-starring French model Cindy Bruna. She also appeared in advertisements for DKNY (including a menswear campaign), Tag Heuer, Penshoppe, Pepe Jeans, Burberry, Alexander Wang, and Mango reuniting with Kate Moss.

Delevingne appeared on a solo cover of '' Vogue'', as well as ''The Wall Street Journal'', and ''Love'' alongside Kendall Jenner, among others.

In 2016, Delevingne became the face of Rimmel alongside Kate Moss and Georgia May Jagger.

She continued appearing in ads for Burberry, Tag Heuer, Chanel, Marc Jacobs, YSL, and Puma.

In 2017, Delevingne appeared on the cover of the online magazine ''The Edit'' by luxury fashion retailer Net-a-Porter. She also appeared on the cover of '' Glamour'', '' V'', '' British GQ'', '' Vogue Paris'', ''Elle UK'', ''Elle Australia'', and ''Glamour Germany''. She began appearing in Dior Beauty advertisements.

In June 2014, Delevingne made her TV debut opposite veteran British actress Sylvia Syms in the final episode of ''Playhouse Presents.'' This was a series of self-contained TV plays, made by British broadcaster Sky Arts.

In January 2014, Delevingne opened and closed the Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2014 show.

2015–present: Acting breakthrough and modelling hiatus

It was noted by many that Delevingne had started to become more selective with the shows she appeared in. This was the beginning of the decrease in volume of catwalk roles, the cause of which at the time was put down to her expanding acting career. However, in a ''Time'' essay published in 2016, Delevingne explained the real cause for the decrease of show appearances:

In February 2015, Delevingne appeared in ASAP Ferg's music video for his song ''Dope Walk.'' Later in May 2015, she was also in Taylor Swift's star studded " Bad Blood" music video which went on to break Vevo's 24-hour viewing record, with 20.1 million views in its day of release.

Delevingne co-starred in the adaptation of John Green's novel '' Paper Towns'' (2015) as Margo Roth Spiegelman. The film brought in $12,650,140 on the opening weekend in the US, which placed it 6th at the box office. Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus reads, "''Paper Towns'' isn't as deep or moving as it wants to be, yet it's still earnest, well-acted, and thoughtful enough to earn a place in the hearts of teen filmgoers of all ages." Of Delevingne's performance, Justin Chang of '' Variety'' called her "the real find of the film", suggesting that "on the evidence of her work here, this striking actress is here to stay".

She played a mermaid in the 2015 fantasy film '' Pan''. In 2016, Delevingne co-starred as Enchantress, a villainess with magical abilities, in ''Suicide Squad'', an action film based on the DC comic book series of the same name. The film was released to generally negative reviews, although it was a box office success. Delevingne's performance received mixed reviews from critics.

The film '' Kids in Love'', a British coming of age drama, was released in 2016. The cast includes many up and coming young actors, with Will Poulter and Alma Jodorowsky as lead roles alongside Sebastian de Souza and Delevingne who plays the role of Viola.

Delevingne starred with Dane DeHaan and Rihanna in the Luc Besson film ''Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets'', an adaptation of the comic book series ''Valérian and Laureline''. The film began shooting in December 2015, and was released in July 2017.

Delevingne plays Annetje in the period romance film ''Tulip Fever''. She also plays the role of Kath Talent in the film '' London Fields'', based on the 1989 novel of the same name by Martin Amis.

The Amazon Prime Video fantasy steampunk series ''Carnival Row'' features Delevingne in the female lead role (opposite Orlando Bloom) as Vignette Stonemoss, a faerie war refugee. In 2022, she joined the cast of ''Only Murders in the Building'' for its second season.

Other ventures

Delevingne sings and plays the drums and guitar. Over 2011 and 2012, Delevingne wrote and recorded two albums of music under artist manager Simon Fuller and was subsequently offered a record deal. However, she turned the deal down due to the fact that her name would be changed. In 2013, she recorded an acoustic duet cover version of ''Sonnentanz'' with British soul and jazz singer-songwriter Will Heard. She covered The Strangeloves " I Want Candy" in the mini film called ''Gang'', which was the title of the 2013 A/W Katie Grand Loves Hogan collection and the name of the large-format magazine created to celebrate the collaboration.

Delevingne teamed up with Pharrell Williams to make the song "CC the World", which was used for the short Chanel film ''Reincarnation'' in which both Pharrell and Delevingne star. This was released to the public on 1 December 2014. The duo performed the song before a live audience for the Chanel show at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City in March 2015. On 28 July 2017, Delevingne released the music video for her song "I Feel Everything" from ''Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets''. Delevingne's background vocals are featured on the song "Pills" from the 2017 studio album, '' Masseduction'', by American musician St. Vincent, whom Delevingne previously dated from 2014 to 2016. Her backing vocals are featured on the title track of Fiona Apple's 2020 album, ''Fetch the Bolt Cutters''.

In October 2017, Delevingne made her debut as a novelist of young adult fiction with her book ''Mirror, Mirror'', which contains an LGBT theme, co-written with British writer Rowan Coleman.

In 2020, Delevingne - together with her older sisters Chloe and Poppy - launched Della Vite, a line of vegan Prosecco.

In December 2022, Delevingne featured in her series ''Planet Sex'' for BBC Three, shown over six episodes, exploring sexuality including her own, in various worldwide locations.

From 11 March 2024, Delevigne will make her stage debut taking over as Sally Bowles in the West End musical ''Cabaret'' at the Kit Kat Club (Playhouse Theatre) opposite Luke Treadaway as the Emcee for 12 weeks.

Fashion

Delevingne has designed two fashion collections for DKNY and Mulberry. Her DKNY capsule collection featured a variety of sporty street style items ranging from beanie hats to leather jackets. DKNY described the collection as "mostly unisex". The collection took approximately two years from the first announcement to when it was released on 15 October 2014.

Delevingne has also designed four collections for Mulberry featuring rucksacks and handbags. The collection also consisted of purses, iPad sleeves, phone covers, zipped pouches, and passport holders. The fourth and latest collection was released 3 June 2015.

Public image

Delevingne's naturally thick eyebrows are considered her signature look, and she has been credited with popularizing bold eyebrows as a beauty trend of the 2010s.

Delevingne was named by the ''Evening Standard'' as one of London's "1,000 Most Influential People of 2011", in the category Most Invited. In 2013, the ''Evening Standard'' also ranked her 20th on their "Power 1000" list "because of her domination of the catwalks at London Fashion Week and her huge social media following". The same year, Delevingne was the most googled fashion figure and the most re-blogged model on Tumblr.

In March 2014, Delevingne was included in ''The Sunday Times Magazine''s "100 Makers of the 21st Century" list of influential British people. Later that year, she was ranked sixth on the "World's Highest-Paid Models" list by ''Forbes'', earning an estimated US$3.5 million (£2.7 million). By 2015, she had moved up to second on this list, earning $9 million (£7 million).

Delevingne has also appeared twice in categories run by ''AskMen'', ranking at number 13 on their "Top 99 Most Desirable Women" list in 2014 and at number 40 on their "Crush List: Top 99 Women" in 2016.

She also briefly appeared on Martin Brundle's grid walk for the 2023 British Grand Prix, where she denied Brundle an interview, claiming that she "can't hear anything", in an attempt to get out of the interview.

Personal life

Delevingne is queer and pansexual, having previously identified as bisexual. In June 2015, she confirmed that she was in a relationship with American musician St. Vincent. They separated in September 2016. In May 2018, Delevingne came out as genderfluid. She uses ''she''/''her'' pronouns. In June 2019, she confirmed that she was in a relationship with actress and model Ashley Benson. In April 2020, the couple split after two years of dating. Delevingne has been dating musician Leah Mason, also known as Minke, since 2022.

Delevingne is a self-described animal lover. Following the killing of Cecil the lion in 2015, she auctioned off her personal TAG Heuer watch in aid of wildlife conservation, raising £18,600 for WildCRU.

She founded EcoResolution, an environmental justice platform with Advaya and has given speeches about climate change and supported stronger environmental regulation. She supports making ecocide a crime at the International Criminal Court stating “mass damage and destruction of nature is called ecocide and it should be an international crime, just like genocide."

In 2021, Delevingne joined the Rewriting Extinction campaign to fight the climate and biodiversity crisis through comics. She co-created at least one short story comic which was released in the book ''The Most Important Comic Book on Earth: Stories to Save the World'' on 28 October 2021 by DK. She said about the campaign, "Through storytelling, community building and action we rewrite the cultural narratives driving extinction."

At the Women in the World summit in October 2015, Delevingne spoke about her battle with depression, which began at age 15, when she discovered her mother's drug addiction. The following year, she left school for six months and agreed to go on medication, which she said may have saved her life. In 2017, on '' This Morning'', she revealed that she also has ADHD.

In October 2017, Delevingne alleged that circa 2016, producer Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed her, attempted to kiss her without consent, and propositioned her for a threesome in a hotel room in exchange for a role. Despite declining, she was still cast in the film, but says she regretted it because his actions terrified her. The Weinstein Company produced the 2017 film ''Tulip Fever'', which starred Delevingne. She also alleges that circa 2014, he told her she would never work as an actress in Hollywood because of her sexuality.

In a March 2023 interview with '' Vogue'', she revealed that she had checked herself into rehab in late 2022 and entered a twelve-step program, and had been sober since then.

Delevingne has several tattoos. Her first tattoo was a lion on her finger, representing her zodiac sign of Leo. She has a tattoo of her lucky number, the Roman numeral XII, on her side under her right arm, and "MADE IN ENGLAND" on the sole of her left foot. She has said that her most important tattoo is the elephant on her right arm, in memory of her late grandmother. Her initials "CJD" are on her hand.

2024 house fire

In the early hours of 15 March 2024, Delevingne's home in Studio City, Los Angeles, caught fire. Ninety-four firefighters from the city of Los Angeles responded to the call but the property was declared a total loss. A firefighter and a person who was in the house were injured, but Delevingne's two cats made it out alive; Delevingne was not at the mansion at the time of the fire. The following day, it was revealed that the cause of the fire was most likely "electrical".

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Web

Music videos

Director

Video game

Commercials

Discography

Bibliography

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See also

* LGBT culture in New York City
* List of LGBT people from New York City
* NYC Pride March
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References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Delevingne, Cara
Living people
1992 births
21st-century English actresses
21st-century English novelists
21st-century English singers
21st-century English people
Actresses from London
People from Hammersmith
Bisexual women models
Bisexual novelists
Bisexual singers
English actors with disabilities
British fashion designers
Cara
English pansexual people
English bisexual writers
English bisexual actresses
English bisexual musicians
English non-binary writers
English non-binary actors
English non-binary musicians
English film actors
English LGBTQ models
English LGBTQ novelists
English people of Canadian descent
English people of Jewish descent
Fashion designers from London
Genderfluid musicians
Hulton family
LGBTQ fashion designers
LGBTQ people from London
Models from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Non-binary models
Non-binary pansexual people
Non-binary bisexual people
Pansexual models
Actors educated at Bedales School
People educated at Francis Holland School
People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Writers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
21st-century English LGBTQ people
Actors from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Genderfluid actors
People with developmental coordination disorder