TOBIAS SORENSEN tells Michal Figurski about how he started modeling, what he values most in life and where the scars on his face came from...
MF: Do people often admire you?
T: Actually, they do.
MF: How does it feel for a guy?
T: It’s really nice. I like it. As a man, I don’t have a problem with that.
MF: You don’t seem like a typical model...
T: I’m glad you say that.
MF: You used to do boxing, you played professional football, you even fought a dog. These aren’t things sensitive boys do.
T: I’d never thought of working as a model. I always thought you have to have a perfect complexion, no scars, so I was really surprised when they offered me a job.
MF: How did this happen?
T: I worked in a clothes shop and I sold jeans. On my first day at work a guy came to the shop and he kept staring at me. a week later he invited me to his agency. He took a few photos of me and the next week I was flying to Paris for my first photo shoot. Before, I was afraid I would end up selling groceries, and then I was a model in Paris.
MF: Did you like this lifestyle from the start?
T: I always dreamed about travelling around the world, but I come from a poor family, so it seemed impossible. Now I got a big opportunity from life to make my dreams come true.
MF: How did people around you react when they learned you were going to be a model?
T: My closest friends were shocked, so was my family. I had the impression that my father would prefer me to continue my studies. He didn’t really believe this could be a profitable job. Personally I was a bit embarrassed when I talked about being a model. When someone asked what my job was, I said I was still selling jeans. I was afraid someone might think something bad about me, because there are various opinions about this job.
MF: Do you like your job?
T: I love it. As in every job, there are good and bad sides to it. I don’t like castings, I miss my family in Denmark and my girlfriend in NYC all the time. I’m torn apart most of the time, when I’m in America, I miss home in Denmark. When I visit my family, I keep thinking about NYC. Sometimes I don’t know where my home is anymore.
MF: Tell me about your girlfriend...
T: She’s Swedish, and she’s a daughter of a famous rockman. She moved to NYC in January and she went to university there. We met in the same jeans shop where my career started.
MF: She’s the girlfriend of one of the most desired men in the world. How does she handle that?
T: She supports me. Sometimes she’s jealous, but I get mad too, sometimes. We trust each other and this is what counts. I’m away a lot. We wouldn’t make it without the trust. She hates it the most when I don’t call her back when I promised to.
MF: Where did you get your scars?
T: As a child I played with a dog that attacked me. I heard some interesting stories about these scars, e.g. one saying that my ex-girlfriend attacked me with a knife.
Now we finally know where the scars came from! he seems like a nice guy. Not stuck up