Emily Ratajkowski's Real Name: Emily O'Hara Ratajkowski

Quick answer: The model and writer is known professionally as Emily Ratajkowski. In a 2013 Rolling Stone interview she gave the full name Emily O'Hara Ratajkowski, and Telegraph India independently lists the same form. People dates her birth to June 7, 1991, in London, to American parents, and says she was raised in Encinitas, California.

Real name and early life

Independent publishers support the documented full name Emily O'Hara Ratajkowski. In Rolling Stone, published September 3, 2013, she said her middle name is O'Hara and stated the full name, and said she was born in London, where her mother, an English professor, was teaching on a Fulbright at the time. Telegraph India, in a June 2, 2017, profile, independently lists the name Emily O'Hara Ratajkowski and gives the birthday as June 7. People, in an April 28, 2024, article, independently dates the birth to June 7, 1991, in London, names her parents as Kathleen Balgley and John Ratajkowski, and says the couple raised her, an only child, in Encinitas, a California beach city. Business of Fashion independently says she was born in London in 1991 and raised in California. Rolling Stone also records that she attended UCLA for a year before turning to modeling full time, and that she began modeling at 14.

Career highlights

Rolling Stone describes the attention that followed her appearance in Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" video, and notes an earlier music-video appearance in Maroon 5's "Somebody" and a 2010 guest role on iCarly. Business of Fashion independently says she stepped into the spotlight after "Blurred Lines," made a professional runway debut for Marc Jacobs at New York Fashion Week in 2015, and has since walked for houses including Miu Miu, Tory Burch, and Versace. The same profile records film work including Gone Girl, the 2021 essay collection My Body, which it calls a New York Times bestseller, the swimwear line Inamorata, and the podcast High Low with Emrata. People independently describes her as a model, author, entrepreneur, podcast host, and actress.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Emily Ratajkowski, EmRata, or Emily O'Hara Ratajkowski are looking for the same model and writer. Rolling Stone and Telegraph India support the longer form used in the title.