Girl On: Marisa Miller

Feb 13 2008 / Los Angeles, CA

Click Here For Our Marisa Miller Photo Gallery

FEBRUARY 2008 UPDATE:  Marisa has just been named the cover girl for the latest swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated! See the cover below plus check out our HUGE Photo Gallery of Marisa Miller before checking out our interview from last year below!


It’s safe to say that Marisa Miller is one of, if not the, hottest woman on the planet.

So why, you ask, is a supermodel of Marisa’s stature featured on Lat34?  It’s because beyond her insane looks, Marisa has the blood of a true surfer. 

In addition to being raised in the real Surf City, U.S.A. (in this writer’s humble opinion), AKA Santa Cruz, California, Marisa’s parents taught her how to surf at a young age, and she still finds time to catch waves when top photographers aren’t snapping photos of her in scantily-clad outfits.

The California beauty does find it hard occasionally to fit in surf sessions in-between traveling around the world to exotic locations for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues and Victoria’s Secret, but time is definitely made to hit the water when the moment calls for it.

Marisa even had a chance to wow some of her favorite surfers a few years back, impressing her peers at the 2004 Kelly Slater Invitational.  Marisa showed off her surfing moves and was star-struck at just the concept of catching waves with surfers she’s looked up to.

I caught up with Marisa in Oregon, where the Millers were having a graduation party to celebrate Marisa's sister graduating from nursing school.

PHOTO GALLERY    Marisa Miller may be one of the world's top models, but she is also one good surfer. Check out some photos of her at work and in action... View Gallery>

Lat34: When I first called your agency to set the interview up, they complained about how you never go to New York City (where Elite, her agency, is based) because you want to stay on the west coast to surf.

Marisa: (Laughing) It's funny that this is my career, and that I've been able to pull it off.  Because most girls, they have to live in New York for a certain amount of time.  And no one ever really asked me (to move there) because they always knew what the answer was.  Even if I (have to) fly a little bit more because I live in California, I have to come home to the beach, and see my family.  I have to have that down time or else I'd probably go insane.

Lat34: Where do you live in California?

Marisa: I live in Santa Cruz.  I bought a house there a year ago.  And I have a house in Calabasas, in north L.A.  I mean Southern California's great, but it's definitely more for work.  A bigger airport to fly out of, and it's just more convenient.  Santa Cruz is definitely my home, and that's where my heart is.

Lat34: Where do you surf usually?

Marisa: Sharks is probably one of my favorite spots.  My parents met at Privates (surf spot in Santa Cruz), and my dad took me surfing (when I was younger) at the Hook a lot, and when that wave is good, it's perfect.  (The Hook) is probably my favorite spot, just because my dad and I would surf there a lot.  It's just perfect.  It's a perfect little right.

That's what I love about Santa Cruz.  If it's not happening at the beaches, the points or something's always breaking.  You can always get in the water.

Lat34: It's the real Surf City.

Marisa: It is.  And I love that there's a ton of girls in the water, and everybody surfs.  Your mailman surfs, everybody does.

Lat34: How did you transcend from Santa Cruz surfer girl to arguably the biggest supermodel on the planet?

Marisa: You got me.  I don't know.  It's funny how everything happens.  I was in Southern California, and I think in LA everybody's a model or an actor.  And there's a ton of people scouting non-stop.  If you're blonde, and you have any sort of figure, they want you to kind of be the bimbo.  I just wasn't into that, and I was really into surfing, and I just wanted to make sure that if I was going to do it, that it was in the right way.

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I had a really big photographer, Mario Testino, approach me, and he's a major fashion photographer.  He's gay.  He wasn't into me for that reason, so I think I felt a lot more comfortable with him.  It wasn't about bouncing around on the beach and stuff like that.  I was exclusively working with him for about six months, and we were doing American Vogue, and Italian Vogue, and kind of the high fashion stuff for a while.  And then I started to work for Victoria's Secret and Sports Illustrated.  I kind of went through the backdoor because I had such a big guy behind me.  Ordinarily it doesn't happen that quickly.  I was very fortunate in that way.

Lat34: What is the best thing about your job?  I would imagine it's the traveling.

Marisa: It's a love-hate thing with the traveling.  It's definitely the best part, but it's the worst part too because when you're going to a shoot, you're pretty much there one or two days, and there's been times when I've flown to Paris and I went from the airport to the city and back to the airport.  I didn't get to experience the city or see anything. 

Sometimes that's the case, and you get really tired, but then you have those moments.  Especially shooting for Sports Illustrated and Victoria's Secret.  They go to some amazing beaches and places I probably never would have seen in my life.  I'm shooting on the most beautiful beaches.  Those are the moments where I'm just like, “I'm the luckiest girl in the world.”  There are moments like that, and then there are moments when you're really lonely, and you're trapped.  I would count my itinerary, fourteen planes until I was on the one that took me home.  Those are the rough ones.

Lat34: When you go to these exotic locations, do you get to surf, or are they afraid you'll damage the goods?

Marisa: It's such a pain in the ass to bring your board.  If I was going to go to Hawaii, and then go to New York, it'd be such a pain in the ass.  When I went to Costa Rica and shot for SI, I definitely got to surf during that trip, but most of the time you're just kind of grinding away.

When Kelly Slater had his Invitational in Tavarua, that was the craziest trip of my life.  It was all about surfing, but it slash-work kind of.  That was I think the best trip of my life.  It was just crazy for me because it was this celebrity thing, and a lot of the celebrities I don't think realized who Tom Curren and Brock Little and Shane Dorian and all these guys were, but I did because I had all their surf videos, and I would do push-ups to prepare to get in the water.

Lat34: What kind of board do you ride?

Marisa: Right now I'm riding a Channel Islands 6'5''.  The thing that's kind of a bummer about traveling is that I'm not in the water all the time, and the board is a little bit thicker, and paddling is always the issue for me.  I don't have the natural upper-body strength that you guys do.  I need a little bit more girth for the board, to help me paddle.

Lat34: Before we say goodbye, is there anything you want to promote?

Marisa: Not really.  I re-launched my website, and it's cool because I have a forum and I really try to communicate with fans.  Its fun to have people involved, and have contacts.  www.MarisaMiller.com