What can be better than being a supermodel? In fact, allow me to rephrase this: what can make most women jealous and the entire male population of this earth drool uncontrollably and it's not a supermodel? And, ta-da-da, the answer is probably way simpler than what you would have thought: the fourth highest paid supermodel in the world - the 26-year-old exotic beauty "GQ" dubbed as "The World's Most Voluptuous Virgin". Beauty doth have a name and it's Adriana Lima! She is one of the most famous female models originating from Brazil and, if those incredibly stunning good looks do not do the trick for you, then you should know that this chick is not all about the shopping and the spending the easy money that she makes: she is also a dedicated humanitarian and a very active charity worker. And, to cap it all off, she's even trying at the moment to become a reputed actress. Who said something about women mannequins being nothing but pretty coat hangers?

Born on June 12, 1981, in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, Adriana grew up being raised mostly by her mother. She was a single child and, naturally, when her father walked out on the family when she was still a little girl, her mother was somehow forced to compensate for his absence by a fair amount of extra attention. Nevertheless, this did not end up by spoiling the young Adriana Francesca - quite on the contrary, it taught her about keeping her faith even at the most dire of times and about learning to appreciate all the good things in their due time. The last thing that was on Adriana's mind as she was growing up was to become a fashion model, not because she didn't consider herself pretty or interesting enough, but rather because she had completely other plans about what her future would look like: she wanted to become a nun! Now that she has become not only one of the most appreciated models in the world but also one of the most desirable women in all showbiz, we can all join hands and thank the Powers That Be that Adriana never got to become a nun. Because, believe you me, a world in which one of Victoria's Secret's most lovable Angels did not exist, would totally make no sense.

So, as we were saying, Adriana wanted to grow up to become a nun but fate changed all her plans for her, when a talent manager spotted her at the mall when she was just 13 and landed a modeling gig for her. At that age, it was her deep blue-green eyes and set of full lips, as well as her mixed heritage, that attracted the attention of the public - and it was all more than enough for her to finish first in Brazil's Ford Supermodel of the World Search, only two years later. As with any other model, Adriana's grand entrance into the glitzy world of fashion was not spectacular or extremely speedy as her beauty might temp you to believe at the very first: no, she had to work hard and in a relative state of anonymity for a (short) while but, in the end, all her efforts paid off.

Three years after being named the number one girl in Brazil, Adriana moved to New York, where she signed with Elite Model Management, having her eyes set on doing what other Brazilian models (Gisele Bundchen comes first to mind) had done before her: conquering America. In almost no time, her fame and portfolio began increasing at an incredible speed, the exotic blue-eyed, painfully gorgeous girl appearing more often than any other model on the covers of such prestigious fashion-oriented magazines as "Vogue", "Marie Claire" and "GQ". From one cover to another, her work on the runway also became more varied and, in almost no time, she was doing shows for Vera Wang, Christian Lacroix, Fendi, Valentino, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani and Ungaro. However, with all that, it was her work with lingerie company Victoria's Secret and her constant appearances on magazine covers (her April 2006 "GQ" issue was the best-selling magazine of that year) that made her a fixture in the spotlight.

Although she first appeared in a Victoria's Secret Fashion Show back in 1999, it wasn't until recently (as in, a couple of years or so ago) that she really reached the level of international hottie she so proudly holds today. And, on top of all that, Adriana was also personally handpicked to feature in the exclusive and extremely appreciated Pirelli Calendar (that is released yearly in a fix number of copies and features artistic, albeit nude, shots of only the crème de la crème of female celebrities) and, at about the same time, made the face of Telecom Italia Mobile - thus becoming the "Catherine Zeta-Jones of Italy". These days, you get to see Adriana Lima practically everywhere... but mostly traveling with other equally ridiculously gorgeous models as part of Victoria's Secret's deadly team of Angels.

As far as her personal life goes, since Adriana has obviously been blessed with the ideal assets to make men (and some women, too) go crazy at the sight of her - other than the exotic face, the eyes and the lips, you can check out the rest of her many "endowments" in the gallery below - she only got to date the very best of men, like Lenny Kravitz, Derek Jeter and even Prince Wenzeslaus of Lichtenstein. But her Catholic upbring is still influencing her love life (not that it's necessarily such a bad thing): some time ago (in the already mentioned "GQ" issue from 2006), Adriana vouched she would remain a virgin until marriage, because sex is only to be had after a couple says their "I Do"s. So far, we don't know if she managed to keep her promise but, from the lack of evidence to the contrary, it's safe to go with yes, she's still a virgin.

On a final note, I think it's time to mention that Adriana Lima is not all about the looks and driving people mad with her sexy poses. She is also a very active humanitarian, donating money and making regular visits to her hometown, where she is endorsing various projects dedicated to education and the young. She is also considering at the moment a career in television or the movie industry, but she wouldn't say no to any other career (like in "pediatry", as she once said, even if she doesn't like children all that much). Well, we wish her all the best, whatever she ends up choosing, while also praying that she will stick to modeling for a while longer. I figure, since she's doing such a great job at it and making loads of money from it, why change lines of profession? All in favor say "I". I!