Laetitia Maria Laure Casta was born on May 11, 1978 in Port-Audemer in Normandy, France. Her childhood was spent in Normandy's countryside- playing in the rivers and the woods with her older brother. Back then, she was such a tomboy that she was often mistaken for a little boy.

When she was fifteen, Laetitia was discovered while vacationing with her family on a beach in Corsica. She was making sand castles with her little sister when a photographer for Madison Models approached her. He handed her father a business card and an invitation to bring his daughter to Paris for some test shots. Suspicious at first, her parents eventually caved [1] to Laetitia's pleas.

Within weeks of her first shoot, she was walking the runway for Jean Paul Gaultier. Having never worn make-up [2], she screamed when she caught her reflection in the mirror. But anyway, by the time of sixteen, she had landed three magazine covers.

Until she turned 21, Laetitia lived at home with her parents. Now she shares an apartment in London with her older brother, Jean-Baptiste. Her favorite activities include painting, writing, going to the cinema, go-carting [3] with her brother and dancing to disco music. Proving not to be just a pretty face, Laetitia holds a brown belt [4] in Judo.

1978年5月11日Laetitia Maria Laure Casta生于法国诺曼底的Port-Audemer。她的童年生活是在诺曼底的乡下渡过的——跟她哥哥在河流、森林中嬉戏。那时候她顽皮得不象个女孩，所以经常有人将她误认成男孩。

Laetitia是在十五岁那年被星探发现的，当时她和和家人在科西嘉岛的海滩渡假。她和妹妹正玩砌沙子城堡的时候，一个为麦迪森模特公司工作的摄影师走近了她。他将名片递给Laetitia的父亲，并邀请他带Laetitia去巴黎试镜。尽管开始Laetitia的父母有些半信半疑，但是后来还是架不住Laetitia的苦苦哀求，接受了摄影师的邀请。

在她初次露面的前几周时间里，她在T型台上为Jean Paul Gaultier这个牌子展示服装。因为她以前从来没有化过妆，所以当她看到镜子里的自己时，忍不住尖叫起来。但不管怎么说，到了16岁的时候，Laetitia已经成了三份时装杂志的封面女郎。

Laetitia 21岁之前都和父母一起住在家中。现在她和哥哥Jean-Baptiste一起住在伦敦的一家公寓里。她最喜欢的活动包括画画、写作、看电影、和哥哥玩微型赛车以及随着迪斯科音乐跳舞。为了证明自己不仅仅是有张漂亮脸蛋，Laetitia还是个配有褐带的三段柔道手。

注释：

1. cave： 众所周知cave是“洞穴”的意思，用作动词也通常表示“洞穴的坍塌，内陷”，看看这个句子：You need to go to sleep.Your face ready to cave in. 到底什么意思呢？这个词还有另外一个我们平时用得不是很多的用法——由于疲劳垮下来。现在再回头看看？很容易了吧？

2. make-up： 女孩子喜欢让自己漂漂亮亮的，那么脸蛋就成了最好动手的地方：She makes up her face.（她往脸上施脂粉。）此外make-up 还可以用来表达“捏造”。以前上学的时候总会有一两个人总是迟到，所以我就常听到各种各样的理由，可信程度有多少？大家都知啦！He made up excuses for his being late.（他为迟到编造各种借口。）

3. go-cart： 可别把这个家伙当成动词，它实际上是一个名词表示童车、学步车、手推车等等。这个词还有一个双胞胎兄弟——go-kart。

4. brown belt： 柔道等运动中低于黑腰带级的褐色腰带级。