They're Model Children

TBY LAUREN BISHOP | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Friday, January 13 2006

You might never havce met Caitlyn and Christine Gardiner, but there's a good chance you've seen the 7-year-old twins from Villa Hills.
Getting married soon? You might have seen the girls posing next to groun-up models in a fashion spread in the December/January issue of Modern Bride magazine. Are you a U.S. Bank customer? That's Christine's face on the
Web site. TV commercials? That was the girls sticking their tongues out last year in an ad for Children's Tylenol Meltaways.

The twins have been appearing in national ads, commercials and catalogs since theywere 16 months old, when they were asked to audition for a Pampers diapers ad.

The twins have spent the better part of the past three summers going to auditions
in New York, wehre they're represented by Ford Models. During the school year -
they're second graders at Calvary Christian School in Taylore Mill - they stay
busy taking gymnastics, drama, and dance lessons, playing soccer and most recently, cheerleading.

And for the past three years, the twins and their 10-year-old brother, Michael - who's also done some modeling - have spent one Saturday every month helping to pass out food to needy people at the Open Door Ministry at the Episcopal Church of the Advent in Walnut Hills. Their parents help lead the Lakeside Presbyterian Church youth group, which coordinates the giveaway.

"When they're doing advertising work, it's important that they have something else in their life to keep that balance," says the twins' mother, Liz Gardiner. "It's very important that they know it's important to give back."

The twins got the job, and many more in the years to come,for clients including the Fox network, Kodak, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Proctor & Gamble, the
Company Store, Sears, Standard Publishing and Totes. Gardiner hopes the twins,
who are Korean, come away from their modeing experiences with self-confidence.

"Let's face it, they are very different in this homogenous Midwest area, and I
want them to be proud of their differences," she says.

Caitlyn's favorite subjects in school are reading and heritage. She spends many afternoons lining up her stuffed animals to teach them what she learned that day. Christine likes math, reading, spelling and handwriting. Both girls are avid readers, listing "The Wizard of Oz" and Powerpuff Girls, Katie Kazoo and Horrible Harry books as favorites. And they love their Polly Pocket, Barbie and American Girl dolls.

When it comes to modeling, the twins prefer to pose together. But when only one of them is needed , they take turns.Their favorite part of modeling? "You get to dress up sometimes and it's fun to smile," Caitlyn says. "They can put makeup on you and fix your hair." "My favorite part of modeling is when you get to smile," Christine says. "I like to get dressed up, and I like to be in stuff with animals. And they put makeup on me, which I like."

Ask the twins if they want to keep modeling and they say yes. But ask what they want to do when they grow up, and
they don't mention modeling. Christine wants to be a fifth- or sixth-grade teacher. Caitlyn wants to be a missionary.
They'll keep modeling their mother says, as long as they're having fun. She foresees another audition-filled trip to New
York this summer. "For right now, they're so entusiastic I just kind of play it by ear. The conversation will come up again when we start talking about summer plans, I have a feeling."

LBishop: staff Writer Enquirer



 

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