Biography for
Kathy Ireland More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

20 March 1963, Glendale, California, USA

Birth Name

Kathleen Marie Ireland

Height

5' 10" (1.78 m)

Spouse

Dr. Greg Olsen

(August 1988 - present) 3 children

Trivia

Began modeling at age 17.

Sports Illustrated's 25th Anniversary Swimsuit Issue cover model. [1989]

Started her own annual calendar in Fall 1993 (1994 calendar)

Son, Erik (b. May 1994)

Has her own line of clothing at K-Mart.

Has a fitness video: "Kathy Ireland's Total Fitness Workout" (1994)

Her mother set her up with her husband.

She's a contributing editor for FITNESS magazine.

Attended San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, California while Anthony Edwards, Cady Huffman and Eric Stoltz were also students there.

Has a son Erik (b. May 1994) and daughters Lily (b. 27 October 1998) and Chloe (b. March 2003).

Measurements: 34B-24-34 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Wears a size 8 shoe.

Daughter of John and Barbara Ireland. Her sisters are Mary Ireland and Cynthia Ireland.

Mentioned, along with Vendela Kirsebom Thomessen and Paulina Porizkova, in the Sonic Youth song "Swimsuit Issue" performed by Kim Gordon.

Former lifelong surfer.

She has authored several best-selling children's books including "What Do Mommies Do?" and "An Angel Called Hope" along with the book "Powerful Inspirations" which now is in its 5th printing in paperback.

She has been Chair or Honorary Chair of such major national causes the March of Dimes, PTA, Feed the Children and City of Hope campaigns and as Campaign Chair for Dream Foundation, the Barbara Ireland Walk for the Cure, Project Inform and Athletes and Entertainers for Kids. She is the Ambassador for Children for the Entertainment Industry Foundation and for the Department of Agricultures wild land fire prevention organization, Firewise, and she recently established the National Family Reading Night campaign.

Her KIWW brand passed the billion dollar a year retail sales mark in its first decade. Her initial venture was her design and manufacture of socks ( her company having recently celebrated the sale of its 100,000,000th pair) and quickly expanded to furniture, lighting, flooring, kitchenware, carpeting, window treatments, landscaping accessories, watches, tableware and bedding, as well as her early-established success in apparel and her partnership with Dame Elizabeth Taylor for whose House of Taylor Jewelry, Ireland designs the accessibly priced jewelry product.

By adhering to the mission statement she created for her Kathy Ireland Worldwide products, "finding solutions for families, especially busy moms," she won the endorsement and title of "best friend to working mothers" from both Associated Press and the London Times.

She is founder, CEO and Chief Stylist for the Kathy Ireland Worldwide product empire.

She began modeling at 17 and was cover model for the most Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Issues. She left modeling for lifestyle designing, establishing the Kathy Ireland Worldwide brand, when she realized the fashion wear she modeled was unsuitable for most buyers.

Lives in Southern California with her husband, an emergency room physician and their three children, Erik, Lily and Chloe. She enjoys being a full time mom and continues to be a Sunday school teacher as well.

She is the only woman in INC. Magazine's list of the top five celebrity entrepreneurs, which included Paul Newman, Magic Johnson and Francis Ford Coppola.

Is the highest grossing (over $l billion in annual retail sales according to Forbes magazine in 2004) Lifestyle Designer in the world, with a brand name that has achieved industry-leading success in over one dozen product areas.

She was dubbed super-model-turned-super-mogul by Forbes Magazine and syndicated columnist Liz Smith.

Friend of Cindy Williams and Brooke Shields.

Appeared in the "Sports Illustrated" Swimsuit Edition for 13 consecutive years.

Personal Quotes

It is a hard thing to quit. It's good money for not too much hard work. It allows me to be selective about the acting parts I take. (on modeling)

Whether I'm a sex symbol or not isn't the kind of thing I think about too much. I just go in, do my job, get the money and go home. Whatever people think about me is up to them.

Many of the parts I'm offered, even at this point in my career, are stupid bimbo roles that require nudity. I've been dealing with the nudity thing throughout my modeling career. They take one look at me and they expect me to take my clothes off. Some people don't have a problem with nudity. I do, so I've turned down quite a few scripts. (from a 1992 interview)

Being a model first opened some doors and closed some others. For the most part, it has been a positive transition. I'm being given a chance to prove myself because they know who I am. But coming from a modeling background, you also bring along the mindless bimbo baggage that all models have attached to them and because of that you have to work that much harder. I also have to be a bit more careful about the choices I make. A complete unknown could come along, do a string of B movies and work her way up without calling any attention to herself. I can't do that.

Where Are They Now

(2002) Release of her book, "Powerful Inspirations: Eight Lessons That Will Change Your Life".

(2009) Release of her book, "Real Solutions for Busy Moms: Your Guide to Success and Sanity" by Kathy with James Lund.

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