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.
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