"In fashion, one day you're in and the next day...you're out." So says the sexy ringleader of fashion's Emmy-nominated guilty pleasure, Project Runway. Heidi Klum, best known these days as host and executive producer of the enormously popular reality series, continues to rise in the fashion and entertainment worlds. Beauty and business know-how have taken this stunner from model to mogul.

Born in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, on June 1, 1973, Heidi dreamed of becoming a dancer until a friend convinced her to enter a contest for Germany's Face of the Year in 1992. Just one year later, she headed to the U.S. and began building her empire. In 1996, Heidi founded Heidi Klum GmbH to secure the copyright for her name, demonstrating her keen business acumen from the start.

Since getting her big break with Victoria's Secret in 1997, the Forbes-ranked celebrity has continually lived in the spotlight. Soon after her debut, Heidi graced the pages of top books such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Elle. Some of her most famous work includes her nine appearances in Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit edition. Although a veteran Victoria's Secret "Angel" and the recent face of such brands as Jordache, Diet Coke, and Volkswagen, Heidi's boundless entrepreneurial spirit has helped her to cultivate many other passions.

Heidi's carefree charm and easy sense of humor on camera make her a natural television host. She has fronted many shows, including Germany's Next Top Model, MTV's Fashionably Loud Europe, and the 2008 Emmy Awards. Heidi made her acting debut on Spin City, and has since appeared in How I Met Your Mother and Sex and the City. Leaving no medium unturned, she appeared on the big screen in Blow Dry and Ella Enchanted, and she also gives life to the villain Katya Nadanova in the video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing.

A seemingly limitless need to create has led Heidi to design three lines of jewelry, a denim collection for Jordache, and shoes for Birkenstock. She also recently launched an antiaging skin-care line, In an Instant, and has written a lifestyle book, Body of Knowledge: 8 Rules of Model Behavior. Heidi also regularly inks deals for successful clothing lines, accessories, and fragrances around the globe. She even has her own gummy candy.

And if life as a supermodel, TV host, and mogul weren't enough, Heidi plays mom to three. After divorcing Ric Pipino in 2002 and ending her relationship with Flavio Briatore (father of her daughter, Leni), she married singer Seal in 2005. They have since expanded their family with sons Henry and Johan and daughter Lou Sulola Samuel.