At nearly 6 feet 9, Amazon Eve stands tall

She's 6 feet 8¾ inches in her bare feet, but if she throws on some 6-inch spike heels, she's taller than Shaquille O'Neal. She looks better in a swimsuit.

Eve, billed as the World's Tallest Model, was in Houston recently. Heck, she's been everywhere recently — since a photo shoot for an Australian magazine called Zoo Daily made her an international and Internet sensation.

“They love me in Australia. It was the biggest-selling issue ever for the magazine, and the photos have been picked up around the world. Now I've been featured in a couple of hundred magazines in 27 different countries. It's just been amazing what's happening. I'm hoping this will lead to movie roles and who knows what else? I'd be a great movie villain — the bad girl. Do you remember Jaws in the old James Bond movie? I could do that. Or I could do a buddy cop show with a small guy who tries to compensate for his shortcomings by driving a big truck or waving a big gun,” Eve said.

Eve, 30, never took advantage of her height before Zoo Daily put her in a bikini. And then put her on the cover.

“When I was in high school, they asked me to be on the basketball team, but I didn't like basketball,” she said.

Eve was born in Turlock, Calif. Her mother is 6 feet 1 inch, and her father 6 feet 7 inches. She didn't notice anything unusual about her height until she was about 14.

“Sure, I was taller than everybody else, but I was only 5 feet 11 inches. That's tall but still somewhat OK. I could buy shoes. I could buy clothes. I could shop. By the time I was 15, wow, I was growing real fast. By the time I was 18, I was 6 feet 8 inches. That's when it became tough to shop,” she said.

Eve has fiery red hair. She doesn't blend into a crowd. People, especially children, stare at her. When she gets on an elevator, nobody says a word.

She wears size 14 shoes. Her measurements are 40-31-42. She weighs 210 pounds.

“I wear a D cup, which would be a DD on a normal-size girl. I make everybody look short, but when I'm alone, I look like a regular girl. I'm proportionate. It's only when I stand next to somebody that it looks unusual. I'm in the best shape of my life. In fact, I had such a good workout today, I'm rewarding myself with some Häagen-Dazs ice cream,” she said.

She is single. “I'm dating, but there isn't anybody special.”

Eve went to college in the Bay Area of California, majoring in theater arts. After graduating, she headed to Hollywood, where they weren't exactly looking for curvy leading ladies who stand 6 feet 8 inches. They couldn't find a box big enough for Tom Cruise to stand on.

“I didn't get any decent parts. I got some jobs as an extra, but it just wasn't working out for me. So I went to law school and worked in the legal profession for a few years. I was also a professional trainer. I'm a very physical person. But then the Zoo Daily magazine hit and changed my life dramatically. As of Jan. 1 of this year, I am a full-time model and actress. I realize I'm not the typical Vogue model, but there are a lot of things that I could do. In acting, I'm looking for that one role that will be my big break.