Models Making Moves

That inevitable transition from the catwalk to the cineplex is all too familiar in the modelling industry. Retired models always end up in Hollywood. As the most favoured career pivot, it’s also one where it’s tricky to succeed. We’re still trying to erase Russian model Sasha Pivovarova’s cameo in the Justin Timberlake-led In Time from our memory. That blonde wig did her no favours. Yes, the move from model to actress can be a vocational nosedive. Yet, despite the pitfalls, there’s currently an upward trend of leading ladies ditching the Burberry campaigns for star-making roles in this summer’s blockbusters. These are just a few attempting to make their mark, laying claim to real estate in Tinseltown.

Abbey Lee In Mad Max: Fury Road

No Oscars were won for her stunning turn gyrating in the advert for Gucci‘s Flora fragrance, but let’s just say Aussie model Abbey Lee knows how to magnetise attention. For the comic book reboot Mad Max: Fury Road, Abbey Lee drops her last name and suits up for her acting debut alongside fellow models Megan Gale and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. She doesn’t have any delusions about the job, either. “I’m aiming to do what I need to do for acting and nothing more,” she told the Sunday Telegraph. “I’m bowing down to acting.” In the flick, she joins ‘The Wives’ as The Dag, a refugee from Immortan Joe’s gang.

Mad Max: Fury Road Trailer

Chanel Iman In Dope

Lending her cool girl attitude to Rick Famuyiwa’s Dope, model Chanel Iman aims to update the hood genre. The film follows a rag-tag trio as they navigate their way through the streets of Inglewood, California, dodging dealers and drug fiends. As free-spirited Lily, one of Iman’s key scenes involves her being sick on friend Malcolm’s face after experimenting with too much weed. “I wanted to play this role because she’s very edgy,” Iman told Elle. Flush with stars like A$AP Rocky, Quincy Brown (son of rap mogul P. Diddy) and Zoë Kravitz (daughter of funkmaster Lenny Kravitz), Iman is in good company for her on screen debut.