Early Life
Crawford was born in DeKalb, Illinois, the daughter of Jennifer Sue Crawford-Moluf (née Walker) and John Crawford (not to be confused with actor Johnny Crawford). She has stated that her family has been in the US for generations and that her ancestry is mostly German, English and French.
She was discovered at the age of 16 by a newspaper photographer, when he noticed Cindy at work during her summer job of detasseling corn and took a picture of her. The photo and positive feedback she received were enough to convince her to take up modeling. She entered the Elite Model Management's Look of the Year contest at 17 and was the runner-up. The Elite modeling agency in Chicago then started representing her.
Crawford graduated from DeKalb High School in 1984, as valedictorian. She won an academic scholarship to study chemical engineering at Northwestern University, which she attended for only one quarter. She dropped out in order to pursue a full-time modeling career. After working for photographer Victor Skrebneski in Chicago, Cindy moved to Manhattan in 1986; she was signed with the Elite New York modeling agency.
Read more about this topic: Cindy Crawford
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