About
Christen Harper is an American model, actress, and rising lifestyle personality who has turned her California dreams into an international career. Born on May 28 1993 in the suburban community of Valencia, she first gained traction on Instagram for her sunny, relatable posts and has since racked up well over half a million followers. Her big professional break arrived in 2022 when Sports Illustrated selected her as a Swim Search finalist, paving the way for repeat appearances in the magazine’s famous Swimsuit Issue, including the milestone 2025 edition that celebrated her pregnancy. Her résumé now includes campaigns for Guess, Savage x Fenty, and shoots across Jamaica, Mexico, and the French Riviera. Off-camera, she has appeared in the indie sci-fi film Auggie (2019) and is represented by LA Models for fashion and CAA for entertainment.
Before Fame
Harper grew up in a sports-loving household where competition and creativity went hand in hand. Her mother, Daria, encouraged dance lessons, while her father, Michael, coached youth soccer on weekends. Christen tried nearly every after-school activity—from softball to theater—before discovering that posing for a friend’s photography class felt more natural than swinging a bat. By high school she was driving into Los Angeles for castings, balancing homework with set life, and saving her earnings for college tuition. She later attended California State University, Northridge, squeezing classes in communications between catalog shoots and small TV roles. Even when bookings were scarce, she treated every test shoot as practice for the moment a global brand would give her a call. Friends say her early grind built the relaxed confidence that now defines her modeling style.
Trivia
- SI honor: Fans voted her Sports Illustrated Rookie of the Year in 2022, the same issue that featured household names like Camille Kostek and Kate Upton.
- Animal lover: Harper fosters senior dogs through a Los Angeles rescue and famously brought her Labrador-mix, Quincy, to a 2023 runway rehearsal—Quincy promptly took a nap under the catwalk.
- Camera switch-up: She was an extra in the teen sitcom Seven’s Eleven at age eleven, long before her first fashion spread.
- Multi-hyphenate goals: During downtime on shoots she sketches swimwear designs; she’s hinted at dropping her own line once she “finds the perfect recycled fabric.”
- Gametime ritual: Christen attends nearly every Detroit Lions home game, but she refuses to look at the scoreboard until the second quarter—superstition she adopted after a comeback win in 2021.
Family Life
Harper often describes her relatives as the engine behind her success. Her older brother, Shane, is a former professional ice-hockey left winger who spent time in the NHL and Sweden; his discipline in training camps inspired her early morning workout routine. In June 2024 she and longtime partner Jared Goff, quarterback of the Detroit Lions, exchanged vows in an intimate garden ceremony at the Ojai Valley Inn in California. The weekend blended coastal-cool décor, Mexican-inspired cuisine (a nod to Jared’s proposal on a Cabo beach in 2022), and a late-night taco truck the bride personally requested.
In early 2025 the couple revealed they are expecting their first child, sharing softly lit maternity photos from her Sports Illustrated shoot. Harper calls this new chapter “our greatest adventure yet” and says she plans to keep working while advocating for body-positive maternity style.
Associated With
- Jared Goff: Beyond cheering from the stands, Harper co-hosts a charitable golf classic with her husband that funds youth literacy programs in Detroit.
- Sports Illustrated circle: She appears alongside fellow SI favorites like Camille Kostek, Olivia Ponton, and Jasmine Sanders at empowerment panels that promote female mentorship in media.
- Guess family: As a campaign face, she credits Paul Marciano for teaching her how to convey “confidence without words” in one shutter click.
- Athlete advocates: Harper recently congratulated WNBA star A’ja Wilson on joining the 2025 Swimsuit roster, praising the issue’s push for more sport representation.
