Exclusive Interview With Simon Nessman

Simon Nessman is one of the most successful male models, he has  been the face of many major campaigns and has worked with the most famous photographers like Mario Testino, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott,  and Milan Vukmirovic, just to mention some, following here our interview with him.

-Hello Simon, I’m really flattered you accepted to be interviewed for my Blog, to start this interview off, please give me some background information.

I was born on Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada, to parents Ron Nessman and Carolyn Ireland. I am the youngest of four children, with older brothers Tom and Jake, and my sister Liza. I graduated from Georges P. Vanier Secondary in June 2007 and moved to New York to pursue my modeling career. Today my home base is in Brooklyn, NY. I spend my time working and taking classes at Hunter College, and getting out to Long Island to surf whenever I can.

-Let’s look back at how you started modeling, tell me about how you got “discovered”.

I was discovered by a girl from my home town, Sophie Cottini. She set me up with Mode Models International and everything took off from there.

-How did you get your first modeling job and what was it like?

Shortly after being discovered I was placed with Jason Kanner in New York. On my first trip to the city I shot an editorial for Vman with Hedi Slimane. I was feeling out of my comfort zone as another model and I were playing basketball in our underwear. Fortunately Hedi is an amazing artist and the story remained tasteful.

-In your opinion, which campaign marked the beginning of “a new level” in your career and made you one of the most successful male models?

Givenchy was probably the campaign that solidified my place in the industry as a high fashion model

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-What kind of assignments, as a model, do you prefer?

Well I would be lying if I said I was not in the industry for the money, so I guess my answer is advertising.

-What has been the funniest job that you have done as a model so far?

I cannot think of my funniest job, but the most fun I have had on a job was after a D&G shoot in Switzerland.

-Do you have a personal motto that sums up your thoughts about life in a sentence?

Ride the wave.

-Who do you hang out with? Do you have any friends among male and female models?

I live in a house with my girlfriend Gillian Staples, and friends Taylor Fuchs and Larry Stiers who are also models. Other good friends of mine in NY are Ryan Clark and up and coming artist Andrew Birk. Back home most of my time is spent with old friends Myles Lohman and Andrew Wood.

-I know you’ve been traveling around the world, where you would like to live other than where you do now?

I have been traveling around the world, but unfortunately the majority of my time has been spent in cities which conflicts a little bit with my personality. At some point I would like to live in close proximity to nature, and the most beautiful place I have visited so far is the west coast of Vancouver Island.

-Thanks Simon for your time!