Aimee Mullins
Aimee Mullins (born July 20, 1975) is an American athlete, actress, and public speaker. She was born with a medical condition that resulted in the amputation of both of her lower legs. She is famous for being the first amputee to compete against able-bodied athletes in National Collegiate Athletic Association events, and competed in the Paralympics in 1996 in Atlanta. In 1999 she began modeling, and in 2002 she began an acting career. She speaks at conferences, and is well known for her TED Talks.

Early life

Mullins was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to Irish father Bernard Mullins from Crusheen, County Clare, Ireland, and mother Bernadette Mullins. She was born with fibular hemimelia (missing fibula bones) and as a result, had both of her legs amputated below the knee when she was one year old. She was told she would likely use a wheelchair for the rest of her life and never walk but by the age of two she had learned to walk with prosthetic legs.

She attended high school at Parkland High School. She was then one of three students awarded a scholarship from the Department of Defense to attend Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. She took up sports and acting at an early age. Also while at Georgetown, Mullins was one of three who won a place on the Foreign Affairs internship program, working at The Pentagon.

Career

Sport

While attending Georgetown University on a full academic scholarship to the School of Foreign Service there, she competed against able-bodied athletes in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I track and field events, and is the first female amputee in history to compete in the NCAA. She was the first amputee in history (male or female) to compete in Division I NCAA track and field.

Mullins competed in the Paralympics in 1996 in Atlanta, in which she ran the T42-46 class 100-meter sprint in 17.01 seconds and jumped 3.14 meters in the F42-46 class long-jump,. She retired from competitive track and field in 1998.

Philanthropy 
She was elected to represent all American female athletes from 2007 to 2009 as President of the Women's Sports Foundation, founded by sports pioneer Billie Jean King. She remains a member of the board of Trustees and Athlete Advisory Panel for the Women Sports Foundation. Sports Illustrated magazine named her one of the "Coolest Girls in Sports". Mullins is included as one of the "Greatest Women of the 20th Century" in the Women's Museum in Dallas, Texas.

Along with Teresa Edwards, Mullins was appointed Chef de Mission for the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.

In 2012, she was appointed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the State Department's Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports, according to a State Department fact sheet.

Fashion model
In 1999, she modelled for British fashion designer Alexander McQueen by opening his London show, on a pair of hand-carved wooden prosthetic legs made from solid ash, with integral boots. She is able to change her height between 5 ft 8in and 6 ft 1in by changing her legs. 
She was on billboards across America as part of the "25 Years of Non-Uniform Thinking" campaign Kenneth Cole in 2009. She signed a contract to be a face of L'Oréal Paris and was appointed as a global L'Oréal Ambassador in February 2011.

Film and television
In 2002, she starred in Matthew Barney's art film Cremaster 3 as six different characters, including a cheetah woman. Other film and TV credits include roles in Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, Poirot Five Little Pigs with David Suchet and Aidan Gillen, Naked in a Fishbowl, Quid Pro Quo with Vera Farmiga and Nick Stahl, and Marvelous with Amy Ryan, Michael Shannon, Ewen Bremner and Martha Plimpton. In the River of Fundament, she continues her collaboration with Matthew Barney by starring as Isis in performances both live and filmed since 2007, released in early 2014.  She has roles in Young Ones with Nicholas Hoult, Elle Fanning and Michael Shannon, The Being Experience with Terrence Howard, Famke Janssen and Alan Cumming, Rob the Mob with Nina Arianda, Samira Wiley, Michael Pitt and Andy Garcia, and Desiree Akhavan's debut feature Appropriate Behavior.  She also acted in the NBC television show Crossbones opposite John Malkovich, and in the Netflix series Stranger Things with Winona Ryder.

She appeared on The Colbert Report on April 15, 2010, and declared having 12 pairs of prosthetic legs, with some "in museums".

Public speaker
Mullins makes appearances as a speaker on topics related to body, identity, design, and innovation. Her TED conference talks have been translated into 42 languages. She is credited as being one of the speakers that inspired Chris Anderson to purchase the TED conference from Richard Saul Wurman. She was named a TED "All-Star" in 2014.

Personal life
Mullins began dating English actor Rupert Friend in 2013. They became engaged in May 2014, and married on May 1, 2016.

Filmography

Films

Television

Awards
In 2017, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

On May 4, 2018, she received an honorary degree and gave the commencement address at Northeastern University in Boston, MA.

References

External links

 
 
 
Aimee Mullins interview with SELF

1976 births
Living people
Actors from Allentown, Pennsylvania
American film actresses
Female models from Pennsylvania
American female sprinters
American female long jumpers
Amputee track and field athletes
American amputees
Amputee sportspeople
Paralympic track and field athletes of the United States
Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Paralympics
Parkland High School (Allentown, Pennsylvania) alumni
Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni
Actresses from Pennsylvania
Sportspeople from Allentown, Pennsylvania
21st-century American actresses
Models with disabilities
Women's Sports Foundation executives
 American people of Irish descent