Naomi Campbell on AllMovie

Naomi Campbell is a name synonymous with the supermodel phenomenon of the late '80s and 1990s. At the tender age of 15, Campbell was officially signed with a modeling agency, and would soon gain fame as the first black woman to appear on the covers of French and British Vogue, as well as Time magazines. She was blessed with the exotic visage of Jamaican-Chinese heritage. Her startlingly intense eyes and perfect model features earned her much success on the runway and in print, and she would go on to explore numerous realms of the entertainment world including film, television, and pop music throughout her career.

Campbell was born May 22, 1970, in Stratham, London, England. As a child, she gained a taste of acting, appearing in a film called Quest for Fire. Along with her early start in the modeling profession, she honed her limelight skills by attending the London Academy for Performing Arts. Her enduring career as a model and background in performance would lead her to the Hollywood scene, where she gained credits alongside numerous big names in film. Her film debut came in 1991, when she appeared as a singer in Cool As Ice. In 1995, Campbell played Kaia in Miami Rhapsody starring Antonio Banderas and Sarah Jessica Parker, and a year later appeared in Spike Lee's Girl 6. She also made several cameos as herself throughout the 1990s, both in films and on television. Making a case for herself as a performer in various television genres, she guest starred on numerous prime-time programs including The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, New York Undercover, and The Cosby Show.

Campbell would branch out into the music business with the release of her album Babywoman in 1995, and gained much attention in Japan over her hit single on the album. In 1996, she was featured in Tony Hickox's Invasion of Privacy, and in 1997, An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, starring Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, and Jackie Chan. In addition, her media credits were rounded off by two books: the best-seller Swan, co-written by Campbell, and Naomi, a collection of photographs spanning the length of the model's career.