Born in Stockholm, Sweden to a Norwegian mother and a Swedish father of Turkish descent. At the age of 13, Kirsebom was discovered in Stockholm, by Eileen Ford herself, while eating in a restaurant. When 18, she graduated from the Rudolf Steiner School and moved to Italy to pursue a career in modeling under the guidance of the famous Ford Models. After a contract with Elizabeth Arden, Kirsebom moved to the United States, where she began working as Almay’s spokesperson.

The companies she has represented include Elizabeth Arden, Revlon Lasting fragrance, Lay’s, Barbour, Diesel, Hanes, JH Collectibles, Lipton, Mikimoto, and Victoria’s Secret.

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Her model agency in Sweden are Mikas and in U.S. Ford Models.

Magazine cover, film and television appearances
She has appeared on the magazine covers of Bride’s (USA), Flare (Canada), Shape (USA), FHM (UK), and Zest (USA) and has been featured multiple times in the pages of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

She has acted in some television shows and films, such as Batman and Robin (1997). Vendela was also featured in the Disney Channel movies, Model Behavior along with Justin Timberlake and Maggie Lawson, as well as The Parent Trap alongside Lindsay Lohan and Dennis Quaid.

Vendela Thommessen visits the village of Manikganj. Bangladesh, 1997.

She appeared as herself on 1995 episodes of The Larry Sanders Show and Murphy Brown, as well as the 2005 TV movie sequel Romy and Michele: In the Beginning. She also has lent her voice to a character on Johnny Bravo.In 1999, she was the hostess of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen 1999. Kirsebom is currently the host of the reality show Norway’s Next Top Model second cycle and Sweden’s Next Top Supermodel 4th cycle. She also made an appearance in an episode of the 10th season of America’s Next Top Model, judging the posing challenge with instructor Benny Ninja.

Personal life

In 1996, she married the Norwegian politician Olaf Thommessen, a Roman Catholic of French and Norwegian descent, and later moved to Oslo, with their two daughters, Julia and Hannah. They separated in 2007 after 11 years of marriage. She still resides in Oslo.

In addition to Swedish and Norwegian, she speaks German, Italian and English fluently.

Kirsebom still is a very active figure in the international model community, and also acts as goodwill ambassador for UNICEF goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.