Photos By David Allen
FGI Presents: Josie Maran, Beauty On Beauty
A special evening with Josie Maran presented by Fashion Group International at Space 530 in NYC.
About Josie:
While she was still in high school, Josie was approached by a woman who asked her for a modeling performance in San Francisco, and a scouting agent encouraged her to pursue modeling professionally. Her first cover was Glamour in 1998. Signed at age 17 with the Elite modeling agency of Los Angeles, Josie appeared on her first cover with Glamour magazine in 1998; she was then the featured Guess? Girl in their summer 1998 and fall 1998 campaigns. After building a résumé of over 25 commercials and advertisements, including playing Howie D’s companion in the music video of Backstreet Boys hit Everybody (Backstreet’s Back), in which she was bitten on the neck by Count Dracula (played by Howie D), Josie moved cross-country to join with Elite in New York City. In 1999, she landed a multi-year deal with Maybelline. she appeared in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue for three consecutive years: from 2000 to 2002. Josie’s interest in music led her to play casually in two bands: Darling, with socialite Nicole Richie, and Hollywood 2000, where she sang and played violin.
In 2001, Josie appeared in an independent film, as title character Mallory in The Mallory Effect. She followed this by appearing as Susan in Swatters in 2002. In 2004, she appeared in three films – as a French model in Little Black Book, as one of Dracula’s brides, Marishka, in Van Helsing, and briefly as a cigarette girl in The Aviator. Josie appeared in a short film “The Confession” alongside Wentworth Miller in 2005, and as Kira Hayden in The Gravedancers in 2006.
She was recruited in 2005 by EA Games to appear as a main character in the street-racing video game Need for Speed: Most Wanted.
Josie competed in the 2007 season of Dancing with the Stars.
In June 2007, Josie launched her own natural cosmetics product line, named Josie Maran Cosmetics. The main ingredient of the skincare and cosmetics is fair trade argan oil, grown and harvested by co-ops of Moroccan women. Josie Maran cosmetics are sold on QVC and at Sephora.
Beyond her business activities she commits herself to the protection and improvement of nature and the environment.