Born on February 9, 1974, Amber Valletta, despite her exotic name, is American, having been born in Tucson, Arizona. Her parents soon moved from Tucson to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Amber was raised.

Growing up, Amber wanted initially to become a sociologist and work in the social scope. But her life took a different turn and she ended up in a very different career. Knowing that Amber's beauty stood out among the rest, her mother enrolled her in a modeling school when she was 15 years old.

A local agency soon sent the now 5' 9" brunette to Milan where her first shoot was posing for Italian Vogue. Soon after that, Amber got her first big break; the cover shoot for French Elle magazine by Hans Feurer. Not too long after that, Amber, like most models began residing in Paris.

Amber immediately became a modeling sensation and picked up where fellow supermodels Cindy CrawfordandClaudia Schifferleft off. Photographers and magazines alike couldn't get Amber's face on billboards and magazine covers fast enough.

Big names such as Steven Meisel, Richard Avedon, Bruce Weber, Patrick Demarchelier, Herb Ritts, Nick Knight, Paolo Roversi, Irvin Penn, Mario Sorrenti and Peter Lindbergh were all scurrying to Amber for her photogenic face and svelte body.

Amber has since appeared in numerous prestigious advertising campaigns such as Versace, Calvin Klein's Escape, DKNY, Prada, Valentino, Jil Sander, Gucci and Chanel. She co-hosted MTV's House of Style with best friend and fellow model Shalom Harlow and she even became the face of Elizabeth Arden.

Although she didn't become the sociologist she wanted to be, Amber does use her position as a celebrity to support various charity events. In 1995, she organized a charity called Supermodels Stepping Out Against Hunger, a fashion show that took place in her hometown to benefit the Tulsa Community Food Bank.

On the personal front, Amber dated Leonardo DiCaprio, unfortunately, their relationship didn't last (he's currently datingGisele Bundchen). Amber was also married to Hervé Le Bihan, whom she met on a Calvin Klein photo shoot in 1994. Two years later, the couple divorced. Amber then met renowned Olympic volleyball player Christian McCaw on a chance encounter. The coupld married in 2003, but their first child, Auden, was born in October 2000 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In 2000, Amber broke into the acting world by co-starring in an independent film entitled Drop Back Ten. She went on to appeared in What Lies Beneath, starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer, The Family Man with Nicholas Cage andTea Leoni, Duplex with Ben Stiller andDrew Barrymore, and Raising Helen starringKate Hudson. In 2005 you can see her in The Transporter 2, starring Jason Statham.