Barbara Meier (born 25 July 1986) is a German fashion model and actress. She is best known as the winner of the second season of Germany's Next Topmodel by Heidi Klum.
Born in the small Bavarian town of Amberg, Germany, Barbara Meier didn't originally aspire a career in modelling. Instead, after graduating from school, she enrolled at the Fachhochschule Regensburg in order to study mathematics.
During her studies, Meier was approached by a model scout in a shopping center in Regensburg who invited her to the casting of the show Germany's next Topmodel. In the course of the show, she had to face a series of challenges in order to outrival her contestants. Even before the end of the show, one of these minor competitions had her win a leading role alongside Heidi Klum in a nationwide TV commercial for McDonald's. Meier did not have any modeling experience before that but she was able to prevail against 16,421 competitors and became the winner of the season on 24 May 2007. The prize included a contract with the modelling agency IMG Models in Paris, an appearance on the cover of the German edition of Cosmopolitan in August 2007 and a contract as the face of the next advertising campaign for the clothing company C&A.