Playboy.com: How does a girl from Bosnia become France's most famous lingerie model?

Jovanka Sopalovic: I came to Paris to become a fashion designer. If you want to work for big names like Gaultier or Dior, they'll take you, but you basically have to work for free. I couldn't afford that. It was hard to get work in film, so I thought about doing commercials. The first commercial I did was only for my legs. I thought it was strange, I thought every model had to have great legs. They said my body was extraordinary. The first major, worldwide commercial I did was for Lancôme.

Playboy.com: So what do they say makes your body extraordinary?

Sopalovic: When I started doing these big advertising jobs, the French were looking for the perfect body. A couple of years ago all the models were quite normal. Now every model who wants to do underwear has to have big boobs. If you have a fake body and you want to do underwear jobs, it doesn't work, because you can see that your breasts are fake. One of the reasons I work a lot is everything about my body is real. I have nothing to hide.

Playboy.com: So is it all just good genes?

Sopalovic: I also know how to move my body. I can show you an emotion without anyone seeing my face. I can create an atmosphere. I can give you energy in a picture where you can only see a pair of legs.

Playboy.com: How difficult was it to convince filmmakers you were committed to being a serious actress?

Sopalovic: I have to prove a lot more than other actresses do. People say, "She's too beautiful for the part." Or they say, "She's too tall, or she's too model-like." Charlize Theron, Sharon Stone, Cameron Diaz, those girls were all models. The actresses in France, they're pretty small. I'm taller, and that makes problems.

Playboy.com: What's the strangest work opportunity you've had lately?

Sopalovic: I was asked to be on a French reality television show about a bunch of people on a farm. I turned it down. My agent convinced me if I did it that I would never get hired to work in films again. As an actress, it's important to have a sense of mystery, of being almost untouchable. When you do that kind of television, and millions of people see you every week in this very vulnerable position you lose those qualities.

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