PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: A very blonde Sofia Vergara poses for sultry bikini shoot at the tender age of 26

By Amelia Proud

Published: | Updated:

We know her as the stunningly refined brunette beauty at the heart of hit series, Modern Family.

But everybody's got to start somewhere, and it turns out that Sofia Vergara was already turning heads in her twenties... even though her own was a decidedly different hue.

Mail Online has exclusively obtained shots of the Colombian beauty, now 41, in a 1998 bikini shoot which took place in Miami just after she moved to the United States.

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Who's that girl? Sofia Vergara was already a beauty back in 1998, but she was rocking a very different look in this Miami swimsuit shoot

Who's that girl? Sofia Vergara was already a beauty back in 1998, but she was rocking a very different look in this Miami swimsuit shoot

Back then, Sofia was just 26... and already comfortable in her amazing skin.

Bronzed and blonde, the beauty sports some tell-tale'90s  pearlescent pink lipstick and brown liner... but everything else about Ms Vergara is recognisably timeless.

Back in '98, Sofia was already mom to the then six-year-old Manolo, conceived with her childhood sweetheart, Joe Gonzalez.

Blonde ambition: Sofia had just arrived in the United States to follow her dream

Blonde ambition: Sofia had just arrived in the United States to follow her dream

Beauty: Her makeup may have dated but Sofia's looks are timeless

Beauty: Her makeup may have dated but Sofia's looks are timeless

She might want to forget this one: Sofia's now an award winning actress, she wasn't then

She might want to forget this one: Sofia's now an award winning actress, she wasn't then

The pair married when she was just 18 but divorced in 1993, when Manolo was just one.

After becoming a single mother, Sofia studied pre-denistry in her native Columbia for three years but moved to Miami when she was offered modelling work.

Sofia also wanted to get herself and Manolo away from the continuing unrest in Columbia after her old brother was murdered during an attempt to kidnap him.

Headed for the big time: Sofia has just improved with age

Headed for the big time: Sofia has just improved with age

What a difference a decade and a half makes: Ms V is still smoking hot, but a tad more refined

What a difference a decade and a half makes: Ms V is still smoking hot, but a tad more refined 

  

The beauty brought her mother and sister to the United States with her, too.

The shoot dates from the same year as her brother's death and was likely one of her first assignments on US soil.

Little did the multi-award winning actress know what the move would offer in the long run.


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