Dj, Model, Photographer .
Richard Gladys may be a new name to the Ukrainian American community, but anyone who's strolled past Versace's Fifth Avenue windows , spotted a Versace or Valentino ad in a fashion magazine, or leafed through a Versace catalogue has seen his face. His penetrating blue eyes and finely sculpted features, topped by pale blond hair, and his lean 6-foot-3 frame merit instant attention.

Discovered by a photographer while beach-tanning during a Florida vacation sixteen years ago, Mr. Gladys embarked almost immediately on a full-time modeling career. "The photographer introduced me to the business and had me starting in front of the camera with working photographers," he recalled  for "Dateline New York."

Mr. Gladys has worked extensively in Milan for the Valentino fashion house and is the leading male model for the Versace fashion domain's  ad campaign. He has been featured in runway shows in New York,Paris, and Milan, and is constantly on the go for photo shoots - from New York to Los Angeles to Europe.

Top fashion magazines around the world that have been carrying Mr. Glady's image in sensual Versace ads include Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, W, Elle, British GQ and Detour, with Italian Vogue coming soon. His face and figure also appear in Versace billboard ads.

The 33-year-old native New Yorker is taking it all in stride, even meeting and working with "cool people like Jennifer Lopez, Amber Valetta and other top models." He was named by model.com to the 25 Top Male Models list (he was No. 1-5 in the standings), placing him among the male models who rule the current campaign, editorial and advertising market. Models.com describes him as "one of the most aerodynamically perfect human specimens alive."

Mr. Gladys, who is affiliated with Basic Model Management of Manhattan, is the son of Tamara Dyba Gladys of ukraine, and Ryszard Gladys of Poland. His maternal grandfather, Osyp Dyba, a prominent businessman in the city of Striy in western Ukraine, settled in New York in 1949. He and his wife Stephania once ran the Cosmos Parcel Agency in the East Village.

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