Amanda Laine is an up-and-coming star, instantly recognizable for her thick, dark eyebrows, super-tall, slim frame, and characteristic runway strut, which she attributes to dance classes and athletics.

Amanda, born on February 12, 1992, is from Orillia, Ontario, in Canada. When she discovered a modeling contest online, she saw it as a ticket to travel and to “get a taste of a different life.” Her career started when she won the V Magazine and Supreme Model Management search in December 2007. Her prize was a three-year contract with Supreme Management and a photo shoot, to be published in V.

Amanda made a huge splash in her first season, debuting in the Alexander Wang and Rad Hourani shows in Fall 2008. That year, she opened the Alexander McQueen and Miu Miu shows in Paris, and the Spring Vera Wang, Philosophy di, Rebecca Taylor, Alberta Ferretti, Paul Smith, Burberry, Luella, and Jeremy Laing shows in New York, London, and Milan. Amanda closed the Jeremy Laing, Dries van Noten, Lanvin, and Louis Vuitton shows in New York and Paris.

Amanda has done editorials for V magazine, Numéro, Interview, Harper’s Bazaar, and W magazine. In 2009, she became one of the faces of Balenciaga, photographed by David Sims. This year, she has already walked for the Fall 3.1 Phillip Lim, Thakoon, Gucci, Roberto Cavalli, and Alexander McQueen shows in New York, Milan, and Paris.

“She came to New York City with a full runway walk in her back pocket,” says V magazine’s Julie Anne Quay. “She just did it.” That naturally rhythmic walk, says Amanda, is the result of nine years of dance classes and plenty of athletics. Her free time is spent on hobbies from skiing to lacrosse. “I play, like, all the sports—basketball, volleyball,” she says. “When I would play, my friends were like, ‘Oh, you should be a model,’ ’cause you can see my skinny legs sticking out of my gym shorts and all that. So people always made comments to me.”

Amanda says of modeling, “This has brought me around the world. I’d only been to hot places, like the Dominican Republic and Florida.” The best part so far, she says, has been the chance to play muse. “I did looks with Prada,” she says of her time in Milan. “I was standing there, and they get a roll of fabric, and they would start pinning and making the clothes on you.” She must have been an inspiration: An hour and a half before the show, when new models are sometimes switched into the lineup, she found out she would debut.

Following Paris, Amanda will be heading home. After all, she has school to attend. She laughs when asked if she’ll move to New York. “No, I’m still too young,” she says. “I’m going to go home and see what happens from there.”