Yamila Diaz Rahi was born in Argentina, to a doctor father and an old folks home manager mother. Of Lebanese and Spanish descent, Yamila and her two sisters, Maria and Yael, were raised in Argentina. article continued below...

Yamila Diaz Rahi was born in Argentina, to a doctor father and an old folks home manager mother. Of Lebanese and Spanish descent, Yamila and her two sisters, Maria and Yael, were raised in Argentina.

With no original intention to become a model, everything changed for Yamila when she was spotted by a modeling agency scout in Buenos Aires, where Yamila was an Economics student. After this chance encounter, she flew to Milan where her career as a model began.

It took a while for the exotic beauty to break through, and she started off by doing department store catalogues for several years. But it was after her work in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar in 1999 that Yamila skyrocketed to model status.

Everyone from Glamour to Cosmopolitan took notice, as did the people at Victoria's Secret. After Yamila modeled lingerie for every man's favorite catalogue, it was no secret that Yamila would appear on the cover of magazines worldwide.

Since her swimsuit and lingerie modeling stint, Yamila has graced the covers of Marie Claire, Elle (US and Spain), the European editions of Max, GQ and Shape. Yamila also joined the beautiful bevy of models for the 2000 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, including Estella Warren and Laetitia Casta.

In addition to her work with the Newport News catalogue, Yamila has recently appeared as one of the newest "Cover Girl" models, joining Niki Taylor, and has also appeared in ads for Replay jeans, Ungaro's "Fleur de Diva" perfume, and Italian cosmetics "Bio-Etyc".

She may not be strutting down the runways for big name designers just yet, but Yamila has just been cast in an important movie role, to appear in an Italian feature film entitled Il pesce innamorato ("Love of the Fishes"), along with Italian actor Leonardo Pieraccioni.

Since it was luck that got her to where she is, Yamila has never allowed herself to develop the diva attitude many models are known for, despite the glamorous life she now leads. With the short life span of models, she recognizes that her looks are not enough of an attribute. This is why the South American beauty broadens her achievements by developing her language skills -- learning Italian and English -- and delving into literature, most notably Brazilian writers.

Yamila currently resides in Manhattan, with her boyfriend, Italian artist, Giuliano.

• Yamila was discovered by a scout on a beach in Buenos Aires in 1996, and later travelled to Milan where her career began.
• She has studied economics, and is also studying languages (English and Italian). She has two sisters called Maria and Yael.