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Karima Adebibe Profile |
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Birth Date: February 14, 1985
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Birth Place: London, England, UK
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Birth Name: Karima Adebibe
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Height: 5'8"
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Biography |
Born in 1985, it has taken 20 years for the full impact of
Karima’s birth to come to fruition. She was born in London’s
East End and raised in her family’s ancestral homeland of
Morocco until she was 7 years old, at which time she and her
doting parents returned to London’s Bethnal Green.
A natural -- and naturally busty -- beauty, Karima grew up
with a desire to be in front of the camera. However, despite
some work and a bit part in AVP: Alien Vs. Predator (2004),
Karima’s career was going nowhere fast. That’s when she
heard that Eidos Interactive, the makers of Tomb Raider, was
looking for a new model to portray the cyberbabe Lara Croft.
“I was about to quit modeling,” she admits. “Going to all
the castings was getting a bit tiresome and I wanted to do
photography. Then this happened. It must have been a sign to
stick with it.”
Despite a successful first audition, Karima didn’t think she
had a shot at the coveted role. “I don't know if it was a
lack of confidence on my part, but when I saw the
competition I was up against, I thought the girls were
fantastic, and were in much better shape than I was,” she
recalls. “I did something really stupid during the casting.
They asked me if I had seen the other girls, and I said, 'Oh
yeah, wait 'til you see the next two girls, they're so much
better than me.'"
Her self-deprecating nature must have worked, because Karima
was soon told that she had beaten out thousands of other
applicants from around the world to become the next Lara
Croft.
Eidos made the official announcement on February 14th, a
date coinciding with Lara Croft’s birthday and the 10th
anniversary of the Tomb Raider franchise.
Overnight, Karima went from being a virtual unknown to being
one of the most desirable women in the world. “I’ve had the
most amazing yet strangest day possible,” she said at the
time. “I woke up this morning and I was in five or six
newspapers and it’s just so shocking!” Karima’s internet
presence also rose considerably, jumping from 236 web-search
results on February 13th to 16,300 results just two days
later.
With great fame comes great responsibility and Karima will
now spend the next two years promoting the latest
installment of the Tomb Raider video-game franchise with
visits to America, Canada and Europe.
She is also currently undergoing an extensive training
regime. “I've had to do SAS training, combat training,
elocution lessons, deportment, etiquette, media lessons, and
I still have firearm training,” she says. “And I have to get
my motorcycle license. I actually already started my
motorcycle lessons, but they failed me because I crashed
into a wall.” |
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Other
Information |
Officially announced as the new Lara Croft model in February
2006. She becomes the 7th model to take up the role
following on from Rhona Mitra, Nell McAndrew and Lucy
Clarkson
Although born in London, she is half Morrocan (father) and
half Irish (mother). |
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