Cara Jocelyn Delevingne was born 12 August 1992 and is an English model, singer, and actress. She signed with Storm Management after leaving school in 2009.
Delevingne started her acting career with a minor role in the 2012 film adaptation of Anna Karenina. Her most notable roles include Margo Roth Spiegelman in the romantic mystery film Paper Towns (2015), the Enchantress in the comic book film Suicide Squad (2016), and Laureline in Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017).
She was born in Hammersmith, London, the daughter of Pandora Anne (née Stevens) and property developer Charles Hamar Delevingne. She grew up in Belgravia, London. She has two older sisters, Chloe and model Poppy Delevingne. She also has a paternal half-brother, Alex Jaffe. Delevingne attended Francis Holland School for Girls in central London until she was 16, then moved to Bedales School in Steep, Hampshire. She has dyspraxia and found school challenging. In June 2015, in an interview with Vogue, Delevingne talked about her battle with depression when she was 15. At 16, after completing her GCSEs, she moved to Bedales School in Hampshire, to focus on drama and music. After one year, she dropped out and followed the career path of Poppy into modelling.
Delevingne’s godfather is Condé Nast executive Nicholas Coleridge, and her godmother is actress Joan Collins. Her maternal grandfather was publishing executive and English Heritage chairman Sir Jocelyn Stevens, the nephew of magazine publisher Sir Edward George Warris Hulton and the grandson of newspaper proprietor Sir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet. Her paternal great-grandfather was the Canadian-born British politician Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood, and her maternal grandmother Janie Sheffield was lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret. Through one of her maternal great-great-grandfathers, Sir Lionel Lawson Faudel-Phillips, 3rd Baronet, Delevingne descends from the Anglo-Jewish Faudel-Phillips baronets; two of her ancestors on that line served as Lord Mayor of London.
Delevingne had her first modelling job at age ten in an editorial shot by Bruce Weber for Vogue Italia alongside model Lady Eloise Anson. She worked in the industry for a year before booking a paying job and went through two seasons of castings before landing her first runway show.
Delevingne was scouted by Burberry’s Christopher Bailey in 2012 while working part-time in the office of a fashion website. Bailey cast her in the company’s spring/summer 2011 campaign.
From 2015 it was noted by many that Delevingne had started to become more selective with the shows she appeared in. This was the beginning of the decrease in volume of catwalk roles, the cause of which at the time was put down to her expanding acting career. However, in a Time essay published in 2016, Delevingne explained that the real cause for the decrease of show appearances, came to her realizing that work isn’t everything and that success comes in many forms. She opened her mind, and now embraced new things with a childlike curiosity, spending more time doing the stuff she loved. Also letting her to be able to do better work because of it.
In October 2017, Delevingne alleged that circa 2016, producer Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed her, attempted to kiss her without consent, and propositioned her for a threesome in a hotel room in exchange for a role. She made the film but says she regretted it as his actions terrified her. She also alleges that circa 2014, he told her she would never work as an actress in Hollywood because of her sexuality.
Cara sings, plays the drums and the guitar. Over 2011 and 2012, she wrote and recorded two albums of music under artist manager Simon Fuller and was subsequently offered a record deal. However, she turned the deal down due to the fact that her name would be changed.
Delevingne has designed two fashion collections for DKNY and Mulberry. Her DKNY capsule collection featured a variety of sporty street style items ranging from beanie hats to leather jackets. She has also designed four collections for Mulberry featuring rucksacks and handbags. The collection also consisted of purses, iPad sleeves, phone covers, zipped pouches, and passport holders.
In October 2017, Delevingne made her debut as a novelist of young adult fiction with her new book Mirror, Mirror, which contains an LGBT theme, co-written with British writer Rowan Coleman.
Delevingne is openly bisexual. In June 2015, she confirmed she was in a relationship with American musician St. Vincent. They separated in September 2016. In May 2018, Delevingne came out as genderfluid. In June 2019, she confirmed she had been dating Ashley Benson for over a year.
Delevingne is a self-described animal lover. Following the killing of Cecil the lion in 2015, she auctioned off her personal TAG Heuer watch in aid of wildlife conservation, raising £18,600 for WildCRU.
At the Women in the World summit in October 2015, Delevingne spoke about her battle with depression which started when she was 15, when she discovered her mother’s drug addiction. The following year, she left school for six months and agreed to go on medication, which she said may have saved her life. In 2017, on This Morning, she revealed that she also has ADHD.
Delevingne has multiple tattoos. Her first tattoo was a lion on her finger, representing her zodiac sign of Leo. She has a tattoo of her lucky number, the Roman numeral XII, on her side under her right arm, and “MADE IN ENGLAND” on the sole of her left foot. She has said that her most important tattoo is the elephant on her right arm, in memory of her late grandmother. Her initials “CJD” are on her hand. She also has a diamond on her ear and a Southern cross around her ear; a white dove on her finger; “silence” on her wrist; a sak yant on her back; a snake on her hand; a pair of eyes on her neck; a coat of arms on her ribcage; her mother’s name on her biceps muscle; “breathe deep” on her other biceps; “bacon…” under her foot; a DD monogram on her hip, symbolizing her friendship with fellow model Jourdan Dunn; a wasp on her finger; “don’t worry be happy” on her sternum; a heart on her finger; and a smiley face on her toe.
