Elsa BenÃtez (born on December 8, 1977) is a Mexican supermodel. BenÃtez was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, and she got her modeling start after winning an international model search, held in Costa Rica in 1995. With Linda Evangelista as one of her childhood idols, BenÃtez decided to follow her dream of modeling. Modeling opportunities opened up for BenÃtez soon after, first in Mexico, where she started out her career, and then in the United States and Europe.
She become a supermodel after being chosen by photographer Steven Meisel and being featured many times on the US and Italian Vogue for Meisel's layouts.
In 1996, she appeared on the cover of Vogue Italy three times in April, August and September. After signing with Elite Model Management, she then appeared on the covers of many fashion magazines, including Vogue, ELLE, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Harper's Bazaar, and Marie Claire. BenÃtez has also done advertising campaign work for Dolce & Gabbana, Macy's, Episode, I-N-C, J.Crew, Óscar de la Renta, Rena Lange, Nine West, Valentino, and Jones New York, and has modelled for Victoria's Secret. BenÃtez appeared in the 1999 Pirelli Calendar that featured "Women Through the Decades." She was photographed as a representative of the "groovy '70s."
She also appeared in Enrique Iglesias' music video "Love to See You Cry" in 2002. BenÃtez was also selected to be on the cover of the 2001 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She has appeared in the Swimsuit Edition five times since her debut in the magazine. In the 2004 issue, Sports Illustrated reported BenÃtez's story of nearly boarding the doomed TWA Flight 800-a Boeing 747 that exploded over the Atlantic soon after takeoff. She was crying on the phone to her husband and said, "I feel something is going to happen on the flight." Her husband told her not to worry, but she continued to cry. She changed her ticket and took off ten minutes after TWA Flight 800. "It made me appreciate so much that just being alive is a gift."
BenÃtez plans to enter the film industry and as such has taken acting lessons. She hopes to work in both Spanish and English language films. She married former NBA player, Rony Seikaly -- 12 years her senior -- in September 1999, and she filed for divorce in August 2005. They have one daughter together, Mila.
