Karen Victoria Silvstedt (born 19 September 1974 in Skellefteå, Västerbotten County), best known as Victoria Silvstedt, is a Swedish model, Playboy Playmate of the Year, actress and singer. She is also a radio and TV hostess, a published singer, and a former national-level skier in Sweden.At the age of 16 Silvstedt competed in a "Best Fake Orgasm" contest at a local bar. The contestants were Silvstedt and 10 men. She won a brand-new TV. When she came home, she told her mother she won it at a game of bingo.
Silvstedt was the first runner-up in the Miss Sweden pageant which was won by Johanna Lind.
After losing that she was then signed by a Parisian modeling agent and began a career in high fashion, working for various companies including Chanel, Christian Dior, Loris Azzaro, Givenchy, Valentino, and Giorgio Armani.
In 1993, Silvstedt appeared in Girls of Northern Europe (Bishiõjo-kikõ), in which she was photographed in frontal nudity three years before appearing in Playboy in 1996. After being approached by Hugh Hefner to be recruited as a Playboy centerfold, she appeared as the Playmate of the Month in the December 1996 issue of Playboy, and she was soon selected as the Playmate of the Year in 1997. She has been featured in numerous magazines, including GQ, Maxim, FHM, Gear, and Nuts, where in 2005 she came in second to actress Jennifer Ellison in a competition to find the Sexiest Blonde in the World.
Like many glamour models and Playmates before her, she is trying to branch out into acting and business. Silvstedt claims that her favorite hobby is singing, and in 2001 she recorded an album called Girl On the Run, released by EMI, which achieved gold record status in Sweden with the hit singles, "Rocksteady Love" featuring Turbo B and "Hello, Hey".
Silvstedt was already well recognised in the United Kingdom when she took on a new career hosting The Late Show on Virgin Radio, and as a guest host on the TV show Eurotrash. She has appeared on the American TV shows Melrose Place and MTV’s The Real World, and she has worked on Italian TV, hosting several shows.
She currently co-hosts La Ruota Della Fortuna, the Italian version of Wheel of Fortune on Mediaset's Italia 1, alongside Enrico Papi. As well as its French counterpart, La Roue de la Fortune and Turkish counterpart.
She made guest appearances in the Hollywood motion pictures: Boat Trip, The Independent, BASEketball, and Out Cold where she played up to her Swedish-Blonde "Inga" character. Silvstedt is now acting in lead roles in European films mainly based in Italy, and taking to the stage in North America.
Silvstedt became a spokesmodel for Guess? Jeans, following in the footsteps of former Guess models, Eva Herzigova, Anna Nicole Smith, and Shana Zadrick. In February 2006 she launched her own lingerie collection during London Fashion Week.
As of November 2007 she has been in Italy promoting her new film, Matrimonio alle Bahamas, an Italian comedy starring Massimo Boldi.
Silvstedt appears in a reality show centered around her life called My Perfect Life, which airs in the U.K., Latin America, Australia, and the United States.
Personal life
Silvstedt speaks fluent Swedish, French, English, and Italian. She was dubbed in three movies in Italian.
Silvstedt married the WCBS-TV, New York City, news anchor Chris Wragge in June 2000 at Tuxedo Park Country Club in Tuxedo, New York.
In June 2006, Silvstedt and Wragge threatened legal action against Sky News for slander, after pictures of her in Sardinia purportedly with a man other than her husband were published over the Internet. Sky News later removed the photographs. Silvstedt and Wragge later divorced.
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