Ruslana Sergeyevna Korshunova (Russian: Руслана Серге́евна Коршунова; 2 July 1987 – 28 June 2008) was a Kazakh model of Russian descent. She established herself as a rising figure in the fashion industry by posing for magazines including Vogue and designers such as Vera Wang and Nina Ricci. Korshunova's unexpected death, killed under unexplained circumstances, became a longtime controversial subject of international attention.
Ruslana Korshunova was born in Almaty, Kazakh SSR. Her father, Sergey Korshunov, died in 1992 when she was 5 years old. Her mother Valentina (née Kutenkova) and her elder brother Ruslan live in Kazakhstan. With different degrees of fluency she spoke Russian, Kazakh, English and German.
She was discovered in 2003, when All Asia magazine printed a story on Almaty's local German language club, which Korshunova was then attending. Her photograph, which was featured in the article, caught the attention of Debbie Jones of Models 1; Jones tracked down and signed up the then 15-year-old Korshunova, who was nicknamed the Russian Rapunzel for her knee–length chestnut hair in her early work. Korshunova was represented by IMG (New York, Paris, London and Milan), Beatrice (Milan), Traffic Models (Barcelona), Marilyn Model Agency and iCasting Moscow, which was her mother agency. British Vogue hailed Korshunova as "a face to be excited about" in 2005. Korshunova modeled for the covers of French Elle and the Polish and Russian versions of Vogue. She also modeled in print-ads for Nina Ricci, Blugirl by Blumarine, Clarins, Ghost, Girbaud, Kenzo Accessories, Marithé & François, Max Studio, Moschino, Old England, Pantene Always Smooth, Paul Smith and Vera Wang lingerie.