Jnifen was born in 1963 in
Ben Gardane, Tunisia, and was later naturalized Italian. She is the daughter of the former Tunisian diplomat Mohamed Jnifen, who was
ambassador in Libya,
Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Lebanon,
Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain. Her mother, Saida Benina, is of
Turkish origin. Her modeling career began when she was discovered by photographer
Jean-Paul Goude, who spotted her walking on the beach while he was shooting a
Club Med ad with
Carla Bruni in the
Bahamas. Goude put Jnifen in the ad and suggested her to go to Paris and meet the designer
Azzedine Alaïa. She quickly became a favorite model of many of Europe's top designers, travelling between
Milan and Paris while working for
Armani,
Fendi,
Jean Paul Gaultier,
Roberto Cavalli, and others. Jnifen's career in fashion has since spanned three decades representing top international brands such as
L'Oréal, Paris. Jnifen became known to the Italian public as an hostess of the television program
Maurizio Costanzo Show in 1982 on
Canale 5. She hosted the television programs
Quelli che... il calcio in 1993 on
Rai 3,
Scommettiamo che.... in 1999 with
Fabrizio Frizzi on
Rai 1, and
La grande notte in 2006 with
Gene Gnocchi on
Rai 2. In 2006, she decided to take a step back from the public eye. In 2017, she was named ambassador of "Fashion 4 Development". In 2018, she made a comeback in modeling. == Personal life ==