Janice Dickinson Biography

Name : Janice Dickinson

Date of Birth : 17 February 1953

Place of Birth : Brooklyn, New York, USA

Height : 5' 10''

Nationality : American

Profession : Model, Actress

Janice Dickinson was one of the brashest, wildest supermodels ever. As the child of a violent, pedophiliac father and a pill-popping mother, Janice Dickinson grew up hearing her father's "You'll never amount to nothing!" Determined to become a raging success, Janice Dickinson went to New York City and began calling modeling agencies. It was the 1970s, and the ideal models were blond "girls next door" like Cheryl Tiegs, but Janice Dickinson was a self described "Polish-mutt niggerlips." She was turned down by Eileen Ford -- "Those lips!" -- but ended up going to Paris after Lorraine Bracco told her photographer boyfriend that she liked Dickinson's look. Janice Dickinson became a huge success in Europe, and returned to New York City in 1978. It was the era of Studio 54 and Dickinson partied with the likes of Truman Capote, Andy Warhol, and John Belushi. She seduced the most famous ladies' men, drank every drink and snorted or inhaled every drug. While foggy headed, Janice Dickinson fell off a catwalk and onto Sophia Loren. Dickinson took revenge on Ford by signing with her agency and then jumping ship to Elite when she became established in the US. On her way out the door, she reportedly told Ford, "It's me, big-lipped Janice. I'm going to Elite. I don't like you, I've never liked you."

Dickinson's career trajectory was copied by a younger model from Philadelphia named Gia Carangi, who was the toast of the fashion world for a time before substance abuse problems resulted in her death from AIDS in 1984. Early in her career, Carangi was sometimes referred to as "the next Janice Dickinson," and a young Cindy Crawford was tagged as "the next Gia Carangi" as the trend toward models who better reflected American demographics became the norm.

Dickinson commanded high rates when she was at the top of her game in the early 1980s, working for such designers as Gianni Versace and Calvin Klein. Her autobiography asserts that she coined the term "supermodel" to describe herself long before it came into common usage, but it had been used at least as early as the mid-1970s to describe Margaux Hemingway and Veruschka von Lehndorrf, who were then segueing into film careers. Supermodel or not, Dickinson maintains she was a pioneer in her field. "I was the first to do editorial, runway, TV commercials, spokesperson and catalogs," she explained to Newsweek interview with Nicki Gostin. "Those are five separate categories."