Irina Shayk

Irina Shayk is a Russian model known for her 2007 through 2014 appearances in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She was the cover model for the 2011 issue.

Shayk started playing piano at age 6. At age 9, she enrolled in a music school and studied there for seven years, both playing the piano and singing in the choir, since her mother wanted her to study music. Her father died of complications of pneumonia when she was 14, leaving her family with little money and forcing her mother to work two jobs to provide for the family.

After high school, Shayk studied marketing but was bored by it and entered a beauty school with her older sister. While there, she was noticed by a person from a local modeling agency who was struck by her beauty. She was urged to participate in the "Miss Chelyabinsk 2004" beauty contest and she won.

In 2007, she replaced Ana Beatriz Barros as the face of Intimissimi, and in the same year debuted in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Since that time, she has appeared in every annual edition, attending photoshoots in such places as St. Petersburg, Naples, Grenada and Chile.

Shayk makes her acting debut as the wife of Hercules in the 2014 film "Hercules."

Shayk is helping a maternity hospital in her hometown of Yemanzhelinsk. She and her sister helped rebuild the children's ward of the local hospital, and now Shayk raises money on behalf of a Russian charity, Pomogi, which provides care to sick children. Shayk is the official ambassador for Pomogi charity in Russia.