The Next Cindy Crawford May Be A Swedish Man

MIAMI - It is Friday afternoon, and the sidewalk cafes along trendy Ocean Drive in South Beach are packed. Eternally cool actor Dennis Hopper strides by, but few heads turn. This, after all, is a jaded crowd.

But they notice Beiron Andersson. The 27-year-old Swedish model, in Miami to shoot photographs for a 1995 calendar, is drawing lots of curious glances, and some downright gawking, as he poses for a photo on Ocean Drive.

"I think I've seen him on TV," one woman says.

"Is he an actor?" another asks.

"Oh, he's so . . . beautiful," a third sighs.

Through it all, the model smiles and complies politely. He has become used to the attention since he began appearing in magazine ads for Guess? jeans last October.

"In my case, it's nothing like a big actor, where people go crazy," he says. "People ask you to sign a magazine or take a picture or whatever. It's low scale."

Andersson may soon be looking back at these days of "low-scale" attention with nostalgia: He is poised to break through the printed page and into the public consciousness as a male supermodel.

A "male" supermodel? Unheard of. Attaining super status is a feat only women - the Cindy Crawfords, the Claudia Schiffers, the Naomi Campbells - have achieved.

Granted, some male models are popular, but no male model has ever become a household name. If initial reaction is any gauge, Andersson might change that.

"I think Beiron is a supermodel," says Patricia Sklar, president and owner of Landmark Calendars, which will publish his calendar in June 1994.

"He has a kind of appeal that's ageless. I was looking through a magazine and I saw Beiron in the Guess? jeans ad and I was stopped in my tracks. I thought, `What a gorgeous man.' He has great-looking eyes. I felt that he would appeal to a vast majority of women."

Apparently he does. "Guess? is now making notebooks, postcards, posters, everything," Andersson says. "They've gotten a great response. I get letters from teachers who say their girls' books are covered. I've gotten letters asking me out on dates, asking me to the prom."

Andersson began modeling as a fluke. The Stockholm native first came to the United States as a high-school exchange student in Chico, Calif., then decided to stay after serving a one-year stint with the Swedish army.

Two years ago, he decided to open a gym in Chico. On a visit to Los Angeles to get ideas from the larger gyms there, he began to get invitations from agents, suggesting he try modeling.

Though he had received offers before, Andersson had never seriously considered them. "Then, I thought if I was going to be working as a fitness instructor or whatever within the gym, I might as well model a few hours on the side for a little extra money."

"I walked in with a few snapshots I took in the park the day before, and that was all I needed."

He started small, appearing in national and local department store ads and catalogs. Then he caught the eye of Paul Marciano, president and director of advertising for Guess?.

They met for dinner last August. "After one hour, he just told me, `You will be everywhere. I'm going to push you like you won't believe. I was booked for the (Guess?) job right here in Miami."

So far, Andersson has appeared in two Guess? ad campaigns.

The first, featuring a tropical beach setting, was shot on South Beach two days before Hurricane Andrew hit and appeared last year. The second, currently running in such magazines as Entertainment Weekly, Details and Premiere, pairs Andersson with model Anna Nicole Smith in a series of black-and-white ads inspired by "Raging Bull."

Andersson married his high-school sweetheart Tina seven years ago. They have a 3-year-old daughter, Alexandra.

Tina's "very special," Andersson says. "I think there's very few women that would accept what I do. Before I started modeling, we went through everything, we talked. I told her if things started going good, I'm going to be gone a lot and working with beautiful women. If you're going to have a problem with it, I'm not going to pursue it. And she said `Go for it.' "

His family helps keep Andersson grounded. "I think it's a good thing in this business to have something solid behind you, because it's not a normal lifestyle.

"People think we can only stand and look pretty in front of a camera. It would be nice to be able to inform people that that's not the way it is. All the models that do really well have to have a head on their shoulders, because it's use or be used. And if you're not smart about it, you're going to be used and thrown out very quick."