Alek Wek.

Alek Wek was born on April 16, 1977 in Bahr al Ghazal, Sudan, to Akuol and Athian Wek, members of the Dinka tribe. Her family fled the civil war in Sudan in 1991 to escape ethnic genocide, settling in Britain when she was fourteen. Wek studied fashion technology at the London College of Fashion before being discovered by a model scout at an outdoor market in Crystal Palace, London, at age eighteen.

Wek’s modeling career launched in 1995 when she appeared in Tina Turner’s GoldenEye music video for the James Bond film. That same year she debuted on the runway and soon became a favorite for top designers, working with Victoria’s Secret, Chanel, Calvin Klein, Givenchy, and Christian Dior. She appeared on the covers of Vogue, Elle, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan, among others. In 2001, she walked in the high-profile Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Wek also ventured into acting, playing Aquol in the 2002 film The Four Feathers and Miss Millius in Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 horror Suspiria. She received the BBC 100 Women award for her achievements.

Wek was born the seventh of nine children to Akuol and Athian Wek. Her Dinka ethnic heritage forced her family to flee Sudan’s civil war in 1991, seeking political asylum in Britain. She has used her platform to advocate for refugees, serving as a spokesperson for World Vision and the U.S. Committee for Refugees.

Alek Wek broke barriers as one of the first dark-skinned African models to achieve mainstream success in the mid-1990s. Her appearance on magazine covers and runways helped diversify fashion. She was ranked #14 in Channel 5’s World’s Greatest Supermodel and appears in the 1999 and 2000 Pirelli calendars. She continues to be active, appearing in Savage X Fenty shows in 2019 and 2021.