Aimee Mullins is an American athlete, actress, and public speaker. She was born with a medical condition that resulted in the amputation of both of her lower legs. She competed against able-bodied athletes in National Collegiate Athletic Association events, and competed in the Paralympics in 1996 in Atlanta. In 1999 she began modeling, and in 2002 she began an acting career.
Early life
Mullins was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She was born with fibular hemimelia and as a result, had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was one year old. A graduate of Parkland High School in Allentown and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., she took up sports and acting at an early age. Also while at Georgetown, Mullins won a place on the Foreign Affairsinternship program, working at The Pentagon.
Career
Sport
While attending Georgetown University on a full academic scholarship to the School of Foreign Service there, she competed against able-bodied athletes in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division Itrack and field events, and is the first female amputee in history to compete in the NCAA. She was the first amputee in history to compete in Division I NCAA track and field. Mullins competed in the Paralympics in 1996 in Atlanta, in which she ran the T42-46 class 100-meter sprint in 17.01 seconds and jumped 3.14 meters in the F42-46 class long-jump,. She retired from competitive track and field in 1998. She was elected to represent all American female athletes from 2007-2009 as President of the Women's Sports Foundation, founded by sports pioneer Billie Jean King. Sports Illustrated magazine named her one of the "Coolest Girls in Sports". Mullins is included as one of the "Greatest Women of the 20th Century" in the Women's Museum in Dallas, Texas. Along with Teresa Edwards, Mullins was appointed Chef de Mission for the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. In 2012, she was appointed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the State Department's Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports, according to a State Department fact sheet.
Fashion model
In 1999, she modelled for British fashion designer Alexander McQueen by opening his London show, on a pair of hand-carved wooden prosthetic legs made from solid ash, with integral boots. She is able to change her height between 5 ft 8in and 6 ft 1in by changing her legs. She was on billboards across America as part of the "25 Years of Non-Uniform Thinking" campaign Kenneth Cole in 2009. She signed a contract to be a face of L'Oréal Paris and was appointed as a global L'Oréal Ambassador in February 2011.
Mullins makes appearances as a speaker on topics related to body, identity, design, and innovation. Her TED conference talks have been translated into 42 languages. She is credited as being one of the speakers that inspired Chris Anderson to purchase the TED conference from Richard Saul Wurman. She was named a TED "All-Star" in 2014.
Personal life
Mullins began dating English actor Rupert Friend in 2013. They became engaged in May 2014, and married on May 1, 2016.
