Nationality: Canadian Birthday: August 24, 1979 Born In: Oakville, Ontario, Canada Lives Now: New York City Agencies:Premier Known For: Lips& eyes Status: Established Born in a Pennsylvania trailer park, Mills was raised by a single mom, moving frequently until they wound up in a rundown area of Vancouver. He describes the relationship as "tumultuous," and the finances "difficult." By age 14 he moved out. In the years that followed Mills relocated to Calgary and immersed himself in martial arts; a lifestyle that despite its combative nature, still helps him find peace today. It was a violent course however, that soon led to the

jungles of Thailand, where he spent twelve hours a day kicking banana trees to build strength and stamina. To support himself, he fought.

The Muay Thai career ended abruptly however, when he crashed a motorcycle at 60 kph, wearing nothing but shorts. Badly hurt, he was taken to a jungle medical clinic where his leg became so seriously infected he nearly got gangrene. "Just by the grace of God," he now recalls, "I found a gentlemen - a Thai doctor that owned a clinic - and he had trained in Canada for sports medicine. He analyzed the medicine I was using and told me it was fake."

Over the following three weeks, stacked on an I.V. and ingesting three different antibiotics, Mills lost 45 pounds. "It killed everything in my system, but luckily I got to keep my leg." His fighting career however, was done.

Before leaving North America, Mills had been approached about modelling by Mode Models' Kelly Streit. After several discussions, Mills felt modelling was too uncertain, and wasn't prepared to stop fighting. During his recovery time in Thailand however, he received an e-mail from Mode suggesting he get in touch with an agency in Bangkok (also called Mode, although the two are unrelated). 
His first booking was for a New Years event at a packed, 85,000 seat stadium. One side, he recalls, was filled with the Thai army and royalty, the other with Thai citizens all wearing shirts with the Thai flag. "They had guys in rubber balls like hamsters running across the stage, fireworks, everything..."

The only Caucasian model in a cast of 200, he only had one outfit, but the runway was the length of one-and-a-half football fields and Mills still had 60 stitches and third degree burns.

Through his pain, he walked across the stage "like a soldier," limping by the time he finished. "Then they handed me an envelope full of money and it was twice as much as I got for fighting three guys back-to-back-to-back and winning a tournament. So I figured maybe there is something to this... I might as well give it a shot."

From Thailand, Mills went to Australia where he shot "ten magazines, maybe a few more" in six weeks, quickly building his book and making decent money, before returning to Calgary.

With the mentality that he didn't want to fall back into his old ways, he moved to Vancouver with his then-girlfriend, and started working in construction. Six months he spent on the West Coast, broke and frustrated that he was no longer earning the kind of money he made as a model. He learned then that Joy Models - one of the top men's agencies in Milan - was interested in him, so without any expectations he jumped on a plane bound for Italy. 

In his first season he did 13 designer shows. "I wasn't even expecting to get one, and I got such amazing response. It's just progressed from there."

His success may have come quickly, but he wasn't immediately at ease with his place in the industry. In the beginning, he says, he felt he had surrendered a lot of the power to control his destiny, instead placing it in the hands of bookers and casting directors with whom he had no connection. "The biggest adjustment had been going from that street mentality to model mentality and all the people that you interact with on that level. Without having the martial arts in my life it was very stressful for the first year. I didn't really understand how to approach these people. I was borderline aggressive-assertive. Coming from a background where you're the only one to take care of yourself, obviously there's more on the line than just fun and games."

"It took me a little while to find an inner peace in myself where I could deal with the ups and downs of the business and feel comfortable. A big part of that was that my leg healed up and I could do martial arts again. It was my therapy."

"Getting back into who I am and what makes me relaxed, and grounded really made me realize that I've got longevity and it's my personality and my charisma and confidence that ultimately bring all of those things.