She thinks modeling is "rockin." Dressed in a black jacket, torn shirt and thick black leggings, North is the antithesis of a supermodel. As a lanky, 17-year-old from Dallas, the dark-haired, blue-eyed Chandra would hit the underground clubs while her classmates went to school dances. Every other spare moment was spent studying ballet.

Discovery arrived while she was on summer vacation--sitting poolside at Southern Methodist University. A male model approached her about modeling herself--and he was for real. He helped her get jobs in department-store catalogs and newspapers.

In 1991, she headed to New York City, where she hoped to audition for the NYC Ballet. She began modeling to pay the rent and, after just a few days, was sent to Paris. But the jobs didn't come, and she returned, frustrated. The upside: She ran smack into the most important event of her life--her future husband, Daniel, a bicycle messenger.

With his encouragement, North tackled modeling again, and it took. In 1995, she donned the lines of Isaac Mizrazi and Richard Tyler for their Paris and Milan shows.

And the 1996 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue featured a memorable two-page layout of North stretched out in a string bikini made of grass.

Long-term goals: She toggles between wanting a Texas ranch filled with kids and animals and staying in the limelight as one of the world's top supermodels. If her appearance on the cover of Bazaar this spring (her first major cover) is any indication, the ranch will have to wait.