Irina Shayk

Irina Shayk
  

Irina Valeryevna Shaykhlislamova (Russian: Ирина Валерьевна Шайхлисламова; born 6 January 1986), known professionally as Irina Shayk (/ʃeɪk/), is a Russian model and television personality. Shayk received international recognition when she appeared as the first Russian model on the cover of the 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Models.com ranks her as one of the New Supers.

Early life
Shayk was born in Yemanzhelinsk (Chelyabinsk Oblast region), Soviet Union, to a Volga Tatar father, Valery Shaykhlislamov (Şəyxelislamov, from Shaykh al-Islām), a coal miner, and ethnic Russian mother, Olga, a kindergarten music teacher. She has stated that she inherited her looks from her father and that people often mistake her for being South American, saying, "My father was dark skinned, because he was Tatar, sometimes Tatars can look Brazilian. I get my light eyes from my mother." She has one sibling, a sister named Tatiana Petenkova. She is also an aunt to Tatiana's three children including a niece named "Irina" after her.

Shayk started playing piano at age six. At age nine, she enrolled in a music school and studied there for seven years, both playing the piano and singing in the choir, since her...More about Irina Shayk...


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