Biography
Date of Birth
12 December 1992, London, England, UK
Birth Name
Cara Jocelyn Delevingne
Height
5' 8" (1.73 m)
Mini Biography
Cara Jocelyn Delevingne was born in London, England, to Pandora Anne (Stevens) and Charles Hamar Delevingne, a property developer. Her parents are both from prominent upper-class families, with her ancestors including Viscounts (Greenwood), Baronets (Hulton, Faudel-Phillips), Majors and Lord Mayors of London.
Delevingne is a fashion model, and the face of Burberry's Beauty campaign. She was previously the face of Burberry's Spring/Summer 2012 campaign and Spring/Summer 2011 campaign. She has been featured in advertising campaigns for other brands including H&M, Zara and Chanel. She also appeared on the catwalk for brands such as Moschino, Jason Wu, Oscar de la Renta, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi and Stella McCartney. Delevingne was on the covers of Vogue UK, Vogue Korea, i-D, Love, Russh, Jalouse and Style.com's Spring 2013 issue. She also walked down the catwalk as a model at the 2012 Victoria's Secret fashion show.
Delevingne has also begun a career as an actress, starring in films such as Paper Towns (2015), Suicide Squad (2016), and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017).
Delevigne is ranked #17 on models.com's 50 Top Models (2013). She also won Model Of The Year 2012 at the British Fashion Awards.
Trivia
She attended Frances Holland School for Girls near Sloane Square. Later, she went to the boarding school, Bedales.
Younger sister of Poppy Delevingne who is an actress.
Much of her ancestry is English. One of her maternal great-great-grandfathers, Sir Lionel Lawson Faudel Faudel-Phillips, 3rd Baronet, was from a Jewish family (from Germany and Poland), and was the grandson of a Lord Mayor of London (1896/1897), Benjamin Samuel Phillips. Cara also has Welsh, Dutch, German, French, Scottish, Jersey (Channel Islander), and Irish ancestry, and Canadian-born forebears.
Ranked #10 on Maxim's "Hot 100" of 2014 list.
Her surname is pronounced "della-veen".
Her paternal great-grandfather, Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood, was a Canadian-born British politician, who was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1920 to 1922. Her maternal grandfather, Sir Jocelyn Stevens, was a publishing executive and chairman of charity English Heritage; through him, Cara descends from newspaper proprietor Sir Edward Hulton. Her maternal grandmother, Jane Stevens, was a lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret.
She quit modeling to focus on her acting career. [August 2015]
Cara is Gaelic for "friend".
Actress Joan Collins is her godmother.
The "Mulberry Cara" designer 'camouflage' backpack is named after her.
Her pet rabbit's name is Cecil.
She is a talented beatboxer and she also plays drums and guitar.
Has not had any formal acting training or coaching.
Is a fan of actress Charlize Theron.
Her first appearance was in Vogue Italia at age 10, shot by Bruce Weber.
Sports a "XII" tattoo under her left arm since 12 is her lucky number and the sole of her left foot has a "Made in England" tattoo.
Occasionally suffers from outbreaks of stress-related psoriasis.
In March 2017, she announced that she has written a novel called "Mirror, Mirror", a coming-of-age story. It was published on October 5, 2017.
"Cara" is also the word for "Face" in Spanish, "Expensive" or "Dear" in Italian and "Way" in Indonesian.
She likes to play Scrabble and Boggle.
She likes to sing in the shower.
She often photobombs at events.
Released her first book "Mirror Mirror" on October 2017.
Good friends with Margot Robbie and Amber Heard.
Was among the 93 women who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment or assault on 31 October 2017.
She identifies as genderfluid.
She has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression at age 15, dyspraxia and ADHD. She had to take six months off school during her teenage years to undergo treatment for depression.
Second cousin once removed of Samantha Cameron.
Has Portuguese and Italian ancestry through an ancestress sister of the 1st Viscount of Benagazil Nobleman of Coat of Arms of Machado (crest) with crown of Viscount and with crown of Count for being a Peer of the Realm in Portugal.
Descendant in female lines of British Peerage and Landed Gentry, of Dutch Patriciate and of Portuguese Nobility.
Of Hugenot patrilineal descent.
Great-granddaughter in female line of the 1st Viscount Greenwood, of Holbourne, in the County of London, in the Peerage of Great-Britain and Northern-Ireland, 1st Baron Greenwood, of Llanbister, in the County of Radnor, in the Peerage of Great-Britain and Northern-Ireland, 1st Greenwood of Llanbister, in the County of Radnor, Baronet, in the Baronetage of Great-Britain and Ireland, great-great-granddaughter in female line of the 1st Hulton of Downside, in the Parish of Leatherhead, in the County of Surrey, Baronet, in the Baronetage of Great-Britain and Ireland, great-great-granddaughter in female line of the 6th Sheffield of Normanby, in the County of Lincoln, Baronet, in the Baronetage of Great-Britain, great-great-granddaughter in female line of the 3rd Faudel-Phillips of Grosvenor Gardens, in the Parish of St George Hanover Square, in the County of London, and of Queen's Gardens, West Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Baronet, in the Baronetage of Great-Britain and Ireland.
Trademarks:
Bubbly personality
Thick defined, dark eyebrows
She likes to play Scrabble and Boggle.
She likes to sing in the shower.
Quotes
I want to fall in love, I think. I've never. I know. Everyone I know's been in love or in relationships now and . . . There's only ever been . . . there's been people telling me they love me, but it freaks me out and I just run, run. I think I'm a bad girlfriend.
The energy you give off is the energy you receive. I really think that, so I'm always myself--jumping, dancing, singing around, trying to cheer everybody up.
Kids should speak to each other. They're horrid to each other online, they bully each other--they should shut up and stop it. The problem with social media is there is too much freedom. It's too much, too young.
I treat the camera like a person--I gaze into it. Photos are a flat thing, and you need to put life into them.
I had no interest in fashion when I was younger. I was such a tomboy.
My dream is to go spend a week on some island with no phone.
I've always wanted to do a shoot with snakes--big snakes, like pythons.
If I am able to carry on modeling, I'll be very happy to, but my passion is definitely in music and acting. I would love to do what Meryl Streep is doing. Her or Judi Dench, or maybe Charlize Theron as well.
What bothers me, I guess, is when I get these messages from girls on Twitter, and they're like, "God, you're my idol, I really admire you". It's like, "Admire me for what? What have I done?" It's not that being in a Burberry campaign, or walking in a Chanel show is nothing. It's just . . . I know I can do more.
When you model, there's no way you can't notice yourself. Do you know what I mean? Because you're constantly surrounded by people saying, "Oh, she's too short, she's too skinny, she's this, she's whatever". And you're right there. They're talking about you, and you're right there.
I love to beatbox and have been doing it before I even knew what it was.
It's hard finding people you trust or who aren't going to take your money. Everyone wants to get a piece of whatever you're doing. It's a nightmare.
I love comfort. Comfort is very key to me because I spend most of my time in very uncomfortable things, so it's all about trainers and flats.
I want to make music, I want to act, I want to sing, I want to do something that doesn't make my skin erupt.
Of course, I loved Spice Girls. I loved [Geri Horner] and Baby Spice [Emma Bunton] , but who liked Posh Spice [Victoria Beckham]? They said I looked like her, and I said, "That's not cool, that's really mean".
I like fashion, but I love, love, love music and film; they are my two passions. I would love to pursue my acting and my love of music more than anything.
My way of relaxing was always doing the opposite and playing the drums, but I need to be able to actually chill.
If I was rich enough, I would love to launch my own record label. I would love to try and give all my musically talented friends a start in the industry.
Fame, do I like it? No. It has bought a lot for me in my career, but there are a lot of downsides to it. You give up your privacy. I did it to myself but not to my family and friends. You don't ask for it. You just have to live with it.
I've started doing yoga and meditation, but I'm not very good at that kind of thing and turning my brain off.
[on acting] That's what I've wanted to do my whole life, just act. When I was younger I loved to entertain people. I always used to make up dance routines, do little plays. I love to perform, basically.
Ooh, I'd love to be in a movie with Meryl Streep or Martin Scorsese. There are so many different things I want to do, maybe like a possessed child or an evil something . . . I don't know!
When I was really small, my mother had difficulty keeping me dressed, as I liked to be naked! I definitely had very strong ideas on what I wanted to wear. My favourite look was always Action Man and Spiderman. Now though, I really like beautiful clothes.
I'm a world class Beat Boxer; you should hear the noises I can make with my mouth.
When I was younger, I liked money--the feel of it. I would sit with my dad and count his coins and be like, "Yeah". I'd saved £700 by the age of 10. I thought, "What the hell am I hoarding this for?". So I bought a drum kit.
I love Christopher Bailey and Burberry, Mulberry for bags, and Hudson for jeans.
Fashion Week is horrible. I mean, it isn't horrible, really--it's amazing. But having to work that much every day is.
I just don't think that I trust men. That's the problem. I can appreciate a beautiful-looking man, but he's not my type.
I like a little bit of designer, with a bit of vintage and high street mixed in. I love it when you find those one-off key pieces, which end up becoming investment pieces.
I wanted to be a Disney Channel star! I wanted to be Hannah Montana.
Working with Mario Testino was a joy. He's very young-spirited, and it's always lovely and a pleasure to spend time talking to him about all different things.
I'd love to work with Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Sofia Coppola - all of them! I love thrillers and action movies. I love good horror films. I watched them so much when I was younger that I find it impossible to get scared.
I like to keep my private life private.
I'm just not into happy-clappy pop. Unless it's happy-clappy pop in a good way.
Women are what completely inspire me, and they have also been my downfall. I have only been hurt by women, my mother first of all. The thing is, if I ever found a guy I could fall in love with, I'd want to marry him and have his children. And that scares me to death because I think I'm a whole bunch of crazy, and I always worry that a guy will walk away once he really, truly knows me.
[on depression, which she says runs in and out of her life, as does a tendency toward the self-destructive] It's like, if anything is good for too long, I prefer to ruin it.
I'm a bro-ey chick.
[2015] [At this point my ambition to play music] is just a flower growing through concrete. Singing, writing songs, is kind of my biggest fear, but it's the thing I feel I need to conquer.
Honestly, I don't think I did anything different from other people my age. But I definitely have that addict gene. For me it comes out in an addiction to work. I'd probably have done more drugs back then if I hadn't been working like mad.
The first time I walked into Burberry, the woman just said, 'Turn around, go away.' And all the test shoots with the pervy men. Never trust a straight photographer at a test shoot.
I always wake up 10 minutes before I have to be anywhere.
I had to be doing things with people at all times. The life of the party is an easy part for me to play. It rots your insides, though.
The thrill of acting is making a character real. Modeling is the opposite of real. It's being fake in front of the camera.
It took me a long time to accept the idea, until I first fell in love with a girl at 20 and recognized that I had to accept it. But I have erotic dreams only about men. I had one two nights ago where I went up to a guy in the back of a VW minivan, with a bunch of his friends around him, and pretty much jumped him.
I think it's nice to break down that barrier, that models are seen and not heard.
I think that being in love with my girlfriend is a big part of why I'm feeling so happy with who I am these days. And for those words to come out of my mouth is actually a miracle.
This is something I haven't been open about, but it's a huge part of who I am. All of a sudden I was hit with a massive wave of depression and anxiety and self-hatred, where the feelings were so painful that I would slam my head against a tree to try to knock myself out. I never cut, but I'd scratch myself to the point of bleeding. I just wanted to dematerialize and have someone sweep me away.
[At a low point, alone in a New York apartment, she came close to attempting suicide. She was due to leave on vacation the next day, in the grip of an unshakable insomnia.] Full-on bubble. I was packing my bags, and suddenly I just wanted to end it. I had a way, and it was right there in front of me. And I was like, I need to decide whether I love myself as much as I love the idea of death. [And then a song started playing on her laptop, Outkast's "SpottieOttieDopaliscious," which had been played at the funeral of a friend who had recently died of a heroin overdose.] It felt like a warning from him. And it made me so furious with myself.
I'm not allowed to drink. I'm not allowed good food. After turning 20 and eating McDonald's all the time and drinking too much, it started to show on my stomach and on my face. But I'm playing a homicidal witch, so I need to look ripped. [Has your body become your temple?] [she laughs] I always chuckle at that saying. I say my body is a roller coaster. Enjoy the ride.
[If teenage audiences respond to "Paper Towns" as they did the film version of Green's "The Fault in Our Stars" I will] freak the fuck out.
I smoked a lot of pot as a teenager, but I was completely mental with or without drugs.
