Elyse Marie Sewell (born June 10, 1982) is an American fashion model. She is best known for her appearance as a contestant in the
first cycle
96px, alt=Logo with stylized stars, Logo
alt=Map of Europe, encompassing the entire Bologna zone, 256px, Bologna zone
The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements between European countries to ensure comparability in ...
of the
reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
series ''
America's Next Top Model
''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to b ...
''.
She was named one of ''
Wired
Wired may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976
* ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993
* ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017
* "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street''
* "Wired ...
'' Magazine's 2005's 10 Sexiest Geeks.
Early life
Sewell was born in
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...
to a father of British descent and a Mexican mother. She obtained a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
in Spanish and a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
in Biology from the
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...
. She also worked as a research assistant in an evolutionary biology lab.
Career
''America's Next Top Model''
Sewell's start in modeling came with her appearance on the
first cycle
96px, alt=Logo with stylized stars, Logo
alt=Map of Europe, encompassing the entire Bologna zone, 256px, Bologna zone
The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements between European countries to ensure comparability in ...
of ''
America's Next Top Model
''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to b ...
''. She was known on the show as the "edgy
pre-med
Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students mostly in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med ...
student". She was the last eliminated, losing to winner
Adrianne Curry
Adrianne Marie Curry-Rhode (born August 6, 1982) is an American fashion model, actress and television personality. She is best known as the winner of the first cycle of ''America's Next Top Model'' in 2003.
Career Modeling
Curry won the first ...
and first runner-up Shannon Stewart.
In 2005, one of her "confessional" clips from the show, in which she expressed a profanity-laden rant against the people on the show, earned her 16th place on ''E!'s Most Outrageous TV Moments''. She attributes this outburst to the unusual requirement on the show to voice one's private thoughts and to soliloquize in a "confessional booth".
While on the show, she said that she would be going to medical school if she did not win the competition.
[America's Next Top Model Cycle 1, UPN]
After ''America's Next Top Model''
Although Sewell did not win the competition, she carved out a successful modeling career in East Asia, working mainly in Hong Kong. Sewell has appeared in print advertisements for
Chanel
Chanel ( , ) is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. It is privately owned by French brothers, Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, through the holding company Chanel Limited, established in 2018 and headquarte ...
and Chow Sang Sang Jewelry, and appeared on the cover of ''
Harper's Bazaar Hong Kong'' and in editorials for Hong Kong ''
Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...
'' and ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Internationalism
* World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship
* Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community
* Cosmopolitan ...
''.
[ Despite Tyra Banks' hope that Sewell would come to see that modeling was not as easy as it was often made out to be,] Sewell continued to insist that it was the "easiest job in the world".
In 2004, Sewell started a LiveJournal
LiveJournal (), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, as a way of keeping his high school ...
blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
about her experiences of modeling overseas. She published a book called ''Beauty and The Biz: The International Adventures of America's Third-to-Next Top Model'', in Hong Kong in 2006 based in part on her (now abandoned) blog. She appeared at multiple book signings across Hong Kong. Her other writing credits include a satirical piece for ''Bust Magazine'' on how to be a reality TV star, as well as posts for the website Lemondrop.
In a June 5, 2009 blog entry, Sewell wrote that she was leaving Hong Kong and returning to her hometown of Albuquerque
Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...
, New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
.
References
External links
Elyse Sewell's LiveJournal
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sewell, Elyse
American female models
1982 births
Living people
People from Albuquerque, New Mexico
America's Next Top Model contestants
University of New Mexico alumni
21st-century American women
American people of Mexican descent
Hispanic and Latino American female models
American people of British descent
Female models from New Mexico