John Casablancas

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John Casablancas (born December 22, 1942) is a successful entrepreneur who founded the Elite Model agency in Paris, France, in 1972. He also founded the world's largest modeling school, the John Casablancas Modeling and Career Centers in 1987.

He was born in Manhattan, New York, to Catalonian parents from Sabadell, Spain, and grew up in the United States, Mexico, and Europe. He was educated mainly in Switzerland. John Casablancas is the father of The Strokes singer Julian Casablancas.

Casablancas worked in a variety of jobs including managing the marketing division of the Coca-Cola franchise in the northeastern part of Brazil. He opened his first modeling agency in Paris, France, and two years later created Elite Model Management, which is now among the most respected modeling agencies in the world.

He reportedly left Elite Modeling in 2000, and now heads the John Casablancas modeling and career centers, a modeling and acting school, which has franchises in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Italy, and Indonesia, as well as in the United States -- in Florida, New York, New Mexico, Washington, Pennsylvania, Ohio, California and Arizona. As owner of this company, he states the advantages of the contacts he made while heading Elite Modeling agency to lure potential students to his classes.