Kate Upton

Katherine Elizabeth Upton[2] (born June 10, 1992)[3] is an American model. She first appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2011, and was the cover model for the 2012, 2013 and 2017 issues. In addition, she was the subject of the 100th-anniversary Vanity Fair cover.

Kate Upton
Upton in 2021
Born
Katherine Elizabeth Upton

(1992-06-10) June 10, 1992
St. Joseph, Michigan, U.S.
EducationHoly Trinity Episcopal Academy
Occupation
  • Model
  • actress
Years active2008–present
Spouse
Justin Verlander
​
(m. 2017)​
Children1
RelativesFred Upton (uncle)
Modeling information
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1]
Hair colorBlonde[1]
Eye colorBlue/green[1]
Agency
  • The Lions
    (New York, Los Angeles)
Websitekateupton.com

Upton has also appeared in the films Tower Heist (2011), The Other Woman (2014) and The Layover (2017).

Early life

Upton was born in St. Joseph, Michigan. She is the daughter of Shelley (née Davis), a former Texas state tennis champion, and Jeff Upton, a high school athletics director.[4][5][6][7] Her uncle is U.S. Representative Fred Upton.[8][9] Upton's great-grandfather, Frederick Upton, was co-founder of appliance manufacturer and marketer Whirlpool Corporation.[10]

In 1999, Upton moved with her family to Melbourne, Florida,[2] where she was a student at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy.[11][12] As a young equestrian, she showed at the American Paint Horse Association (APHA) and competed at a national level.[13] With her horse Roanie,[14] she won three APHA Reserve World Championships – 13 and Under Western Riding, 13 and Under Horsemanship, and 14–18 Western Riding. She was named the 13 and Under Reserve All-Around Champion, giving her a total of four reserve championships (2nd place). In addition, Upton ended up third overall on the APHA youth Top Twenty.[15] With a second horse, Colby,[14] she won 14–18 Western Riding and was included in the top 5 in 14–18 Horsemanship and 14–18 Western Pleasure in 2009.[15]

Career
Upton at G-Star 2014

Upton attended a casting call in Miami for Elite Model Management in 2008 and was signed the same day. She eventually moved to New York City, where she then signed with IMG Models.[16]

Upton first modeled clothing for Garage and Dooney & Bourke.[16] She was the 2010–11 face of Guess.[17] In 2011, Upton appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.[18] She was featured in the body paint section and named Rookie of the Year for the issue.[16] She has since modeled for Beach Bunny Swimwear,[1][19] and has appeared in Complex[20][21] and Esquire as "The Woman of the Summer".[22] Upton wore one of the Beach Bunny suits in the 2014 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.[23]

In April 2011, an Internet video of her doing the dougie hip-hop dance at a Los Angeles Clippers game went viral and served to increase her popularity.[13][24][25] Guy Trebay of The New York Times observed that this served to illustrate the power of social media to bestow stardom upon a model, which had previously been the domain of top designer runway shows.[26] In April 2012, Upton appeared in a video of herself performing the Cat Daddy dance to the song of the same name by The Rej3ctz, which also went viral.[27]

Upton made an appearance in a June 2011 episode of Tosh.0[28] and participated in the 2011 Taco Bell All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball Game at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, in July 2011.[29]

Upton's acting debut was in the film, Tower Heist, as Mr. Hightower's mistress. It was released in November 2011.[30] She also appeared in The Three Stooges as Sister Bernice.[31]

Upton appeared on the cover of the 2012 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, released in February 2012.[32][33] Upton has also recounted the negative aftereffects of the 2012 Sports Illustrated cover, as she was subjected to criticism and felt she had been objectified.[34]

Upton has appeared in editorials for American, Italian, British, Spanish, German, and Brazilian Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, V, Mademoiselle, LOVE, Italian, German, and American GQ, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Esquire. She has appeared on the covers of Italian, American, and British Vogue, French and American Elle, American, Italian, and German GQ, Esquire, and Vanity Fair.

She has appeared in advertising campaigns for David Yurman, Sam Edelman, Betsey Johnson, Guess?, Victoria's Secret, Express, and Bare Necessities. She was named the "new face" of Bobbi Brown cosmetics in 2014.[35]

Upton and her dog Harley in 2017

In 2012, she was ranked the fifth-sexiest model by Models.com[36] She ranked #3 on the American publication of AskMen's Top 99 Women for 2013.[37] In 2012, she was listed on Maxim's Hot 100 list, citing her photo shoots with Sports Illustrated.[38]

Upton was the cover model for the 2013 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue for the second consecutive year.[33][39] Parts of her 2013 Sports Illustrated pictorial were filmed in Antarctica and Upton suffered from failing hearing and eyesight due to the extreme cold.[40][41]

After getting the November 2012 Vogue Italia cover photographed by Steven Meisel and the January 2013 Vogue UK cover,[42][43] Upton landed the June 2013 Vogue cover by Mario Testino.[44] She was then photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the October 2013 100th anniversary cover of Vanity Fair.[45]

In September 2013, Upton was named Model of the Year at the 10th annual Style Awards at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York.

Upton appeared on the flip-side cover of the 2014 50th-anniversary Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, the first time that type of cover was used by that magazine.[46] Part of her shoot took place at Cape Canaveral, capturing her in zero gravity.[47][48]

In April 2014, she appeared with Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in the comedy The Other Woman as Amber, one of Coster-Waldau's character's mistresses.[49][50]

In 2014, Upton starred with Tony Hale in Lady Antebellum's music video "Bartender".[51][52] People named Upton its "Sexiest Woman" for 2014, the first time the title has been awarded.[53] Also in 2014, Upton was the centerpiece of a $40 million advertising campaign for Machine Zone's mobile app Game of War: Fire Age.[54][55]

In 2017, Upton starred with Alexandra Daddario[56] in The Layover, a road trip sex comedy directed by William H. Macy. The film follows two best friends (Daddario and Upton) on vacation as they fight over the same man during a layover in St. Louis. Also that year, Upton appeared in James Franco's film adaptation The Disaster Artist,[57] about the production of the film The Room.

Personal life
Upton and husband Justin Verlander in 2019

Upton is Christian and has said that her belief in God is important to her. During a photo shoot, someone joked about a cross necklace she wore, saying, "Why are you wearing a cross? Like you would be religious", then took the necklace from her to do the shoot. Upton stated about the incident: "I was really affected by that. The whole thing made me realize that I do want a cross with me, at all times." As a result, Upton had a cross tattooed on the inside of her finger.[34][58]

In 2014, nude photographs of Upton and several other female celebrities were illegally leaked to the Internet.[59][60]

Upton started dating then Detroit Tigers baseball player Justin Verlander in early 2014,[61] and they were engaged in 2016.[62] On November 4, 2017 the couple married in Tuscany, Italy.[63] They have a daughter who was born in November 2018.[64]

For several years, Upton owned a boxer dog named Harley.[65][66] He died in September 2021.[67]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2011 Tower Heist Mr. Hightower's Mistress Cameo
2012 The Three Stooges Sister Bernice
2014 The Other Woman Amber
2017 The Layover Meg
2017 The Disaster Artist Herself Scenes deleted
2019 Adult Interference Talia Previously known as Wild Man, shot in 2017

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2011 Tosh.0 Herself Episode: "Bug in Mouth Reporter"
2012 Sports Illustrated: The Making of Swimsuit 2012[68] TV special; dated February 14
2012 Saturday Night Live Episode: "Maya Rudolph/Sleigh Bells"
2012 GTTV Presents MLB 2K12: The Perfect Club[68] Episode dated May 24
2016 Barely Famous Episode: "Love & Upton"
2017 Lip Sync Battle Episode: "Ricky Martin vs. Kate Upton"
2017 Project Runway Herself / Guest Judge Episode: "A "Little" Avant Garde"
2018 RuPaul's Drag Race Episodes: "DragCon Panel Extravaganza", "Snatch Game"[69]
2018 Robot Chicken Unsinkable Molly Brown / Blonde Girl Episode: "Your Mouth Is Hanging off Your Face"

Music videos
Year Title Role Artist
2014 "Bartender" Woman Lady Antebellum

Awards and nominations
Year Awards Category Recipient Result
2012 Teen Choice Awards Choice Female Hottie Herself Nominated
2013 Style Awards Model of the Year Won
2014 People Magazine Awards People's Sexiest Woman Won
Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie: Chemistry (shared with Cameron Diaz and Leslie Mann) The Other Woman Nominated
Young Hollywood Awards Coolest Crossover Artist Herself Nominated
Hottest Body (of Work) Nominated
2015 MTV Movie & TV Awards Best Shirtless Performance The Other Woman Nominated

References
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  7. "Humphrysfamilytree.com" (PDF). Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  8. "Sports Illustrated Model is Fred Upton's Niece". Politico.com, March 3, 2011
  9. Warren, Michael (July 30, 2012). "Meet Kate Upton’s Uncle: How a moderate Republican retooled for the Tea Party era". vol. 17, NO. 43 Weekly Standard
  10. "In which we learn that Kate Upton's great grandfather invented the washing machine, and paid vacations". NBC Sports. February 13, 2012. Archived from the original on February 15, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
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  69. "Shania Twain, "Broad City" Stars And More Join The Judges' Panel On "Drag Race" Season 10".
External media
Images
Upton's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover from February 19, 2012 (2015 archive)
Upton's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover from February 15, 2013 (2016 archive)
Video
Kate Upton's video of "Cat Daddy" posted on May 1, 2012
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