The Barbie doll was first debuted on March 9, 1959 at the American Toy Fair in New York City by Mattel, Inc.  Later, the Ken doll was introduced in 1960 as Barbie's boyfriend. Unlike most dolls of the time, Barbie was not a baby doll; instead she was a role model for teenage girls and a way for girls to imagine what they wanted to be when they grew up. 

Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.  She has attended both Willows High School in Wisconsin and Manhattan International High School in New York City.  She�s had 38 pets, many of which were very exotic and included a panda bear, a lion cub, and a zebra as well as cats, dogs and horses.  She has earned her driver's license, which she uses to drive a pink convertible as well as her pilot's license to operate airplanes.  If she were life sized human being, she would be 5'9" tall.

She's held many jobs, some before real women have, such as an astronaut, Olympic athlete, a paleontologist, politician (she ran for president in 1992, 2000 and 2004), a rock star, a firefighter and a McDonald's employee.  She was also a nurse in 1961, a Radio City Music Hall Rockette in 1993, an art teacher in 2002, a ballerina, and a US Army officer during Desert Storm in 1992.

Barbie's been the star of her own movies and workout videos such as "Dance! Workout with Barbie" (1991), "Barbie in the Nutcracker," (2001), "Barbie as Rapunzel," (2002) and "Barbie of Swan Lake," (2003).  You can also see her as a guest star alongside Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 2 in 1999 as Tour Guide Barbie.  

Trivia :  Barbie has owned more than 1 billion pairs of shoes and at least 100 sets of clothes for each year she's been in production. 
Ruth Handler, Barbie's creator, was inspired to create Barbie after she'd seen the German "Lilli" doll.

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