Rila Fukushima Quotes

I modeled for 4 years before I felt like I had my big break.

When I was signed by Elite Model Agency, my mom felt it was the right place as it was a professional agency.

When I was 15, I was scouted at the mall by Elite Model Management. I started to go to New York on the bus in high school, which was about four hours door-to-door from my hometown, until I moved to New York and lived in models' apartments all over.

I hadn't planned to be a model. It just happened by pure chance. I went to a beauty school with my sister, and I got discovered pretty late. I was discovered when I was 20-21.

To me, it's a little odd to ever think 'model into actor.' I modeled once. I was about as far from a decent model as you can possibly be. I did not enjoy the world at all. I fell in my stilettos quite a bit.

I grew up in the Ukraine and then I went to Paris in 1996. I went there because there was a modeling agency that invited me there to work so I thought, 'Sure.'

When I came out of school I didn't even think that modeling was a job.

I was the first child at four at a modeling agency, so I had an advantage.

I was approached in Texas to be a model a few times. One of my first jobs was the cover of a CD.

A career high was when I did a cover for 'W Magazine's July issue with Steven Meisel. So few girls shoot with Meisel in their career, and a lot of people had told me I would never achieve that, so it was a dream come true.

I never thought modeling would become my career. I thought it was something I'd do to pay my way through college.

I had 30-something years' experience in modeling, which is rare.

I'd never planned on being a model.

I modeled a little bit in Georgia growing up. I did catalogs and different things, but then when I came to L.A., I became a professional model. It sounds kind of crazy, but in L.A. was when I was able to start making a living from modeling.

There was a modeling agency in my little town where I got my start, but the opportunity came to work in Japan when I was fourteen. My mom went with me until I was seventeen. Her only stipulation was that I had to keep my schoolwork up. My mom was great. She is still my best friend.

I was studying to be a dental hygienist and working as a dental assistant. I met a photographer and decided to put my job on hold for just a summer to begin modeling.

If I tried to start modeling right now, I wouldn't be a supermodel because it's all about celebrity.

When I modeled, I lived in Europe and worked all the time. I did runway, and that's all I did.

I did model for a little while part-time, but I wasn't a bloody model, and I am definitely not that horrible thing 'model-turned-actress.'

As a means to an end, modelling was good, but I had to distance myself from it when I started working as an actress, because even though I wasn't high-profile, I found in my first write-ups that I'd be referred to as 'model Gemma Chan.'

I started as a model in Holland and Chanel took me to New York when I was 19, after which I decided to stay.

The 'Sports Illustrated' cover was the last thing I shot. That week, I told my agent, 'You know what, I really... I don't want to be a model anymore. I really want to do movies.' And I think he wanted to wring my neck at the moment.

There are loads of actresses that modelled. They just weren't famous. There weren't a lot that were really known as models that became actresses, but there are hordes of them that did modelling before such as Anjelica Huston, Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone, Demi Moore and Geena Davis. There are loads of 'em.

My mother took my picture to a model agency and the rest is history.

I had already been approached to do modeling, but in the beginning, I didn't want to hear of it. Then, after two months of delivering pizza, I changed my mind, and I presented myself at the agency.