Joel West was born in the U.S. heartland, into a family of professional rodeo cowboys on the broad, flat plains of Iowa. With a rodeo arena in the front yard, it was the closest an American boy could come to growing up in the circus. And while he may have forgotten the rodeo stunts he learned, for more than five years, Joel West's exotically elfin face was at the epicenter of some of the hottest, most passionate and most controversial fashion campaigns of the 1990s.

Most notably, Joel West is one of the most recognizable faces of Calvin Klein, having shot the entire collection with Peter Lindbergh and the sensational Escape campaign with Jean-Baptiste Mondino. But he's also shot major campaigns for Versace Sport and Versace Home with Richard Avedon, for Iceberg Jeans and CK Jeans with Steven Meisel and for Calvin Klein Underwear with Tiziano Magni, in addition to campaigns for Armani, Soviet Jeans, Bagutta, Emporio Armani and Golf Underwear among others. Joel has also worked with Bruce Weber, Albert Watson, Mike Ruiz, Eean Wei, Doug Inglish, Greg Henry and Greg Gorman, among others

No longer the elfin boy from Indianola, Iowa, Joel West lives in L.A. now. He's 26, 6'2" of solid muscle, in the best shape of his life, and pursuing acting with the same passion, discipline and dedication he brought to modeling and to everything else he's tackled. He is intelligent, charming, witty, self-deprecating, earnest and completely driven.

You grew up in the Midwest didn't you?

I grew up in Indianola, IA, home of the National Hot Air Balloon Classics. (laughs)

What's it like there? Is it a farming community?

Yeah, I was surrounded by farmland. Iowa in general is pretty rural, but I grew up on a dead-end road nine miles outside of Indianola, and the nearest house was more than a mile away. But it was kind of idyllic, running through the woods, going to the river, collecting insects, whatever, doing little boy things and getting into trouble, getting torn up by barbed wire fences, random things like that.

Did you grow up on a working farm?

No. My father and grandfather were both professional cowboys. They broke wild horses, shoed them, competed in rodeos, roping, bulldogging, stuff like that. My mom was a state champion gymnast and ran barrels. We actually had our own rodeo arena in the front yard — as close to the circus as you can get in America.

So they were showmen. Did you do anything like that as a boy?

I rode horses, trail rides, one time my dad put me on a calf, like a miniature bull ride, but it bucked me off and stepped on my head. I had this great big shiner. My teachers must have thought I was beaten. It was certainly an interesting childhood and I look back on it with fond memories, although at the time I kept wondering to myself "what's going on here?" (laughs)