Roberta Close was born Luiz Roberto Gambine Moreira in Rio de Janeiro on 7 December 1964. She was born biologically male. Close, the first pre-operative transsexual model to have posed for the Brazilian edition of Playboy, is probably Brazil's most famous transsexual woman: today, her name is almost synonymous with sex change. In 1989, Close underwent sex reassignment surgery at Charing Cross Clinic in London, England. Afterwards, she appeared in an extensive photo spread in the Brazilian men's magazine Sexy, and was subsequently voted the "Most Beautiful Woman in Brazil."