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.