Afef Jnifen (Arabic: عفاف جنيفان; born 3 November 1963) is a Tunisian-born Italian fashion model, actress and television presenter.

Biography

Jnifen was born in 1963 in Ben Gardane,

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

and naturalized Italian citizen. She is the daughter of the former Tunisian ambassador Mohamed Jnifen, who also 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 Club Med SAS, commonly known as Club Med and previously known as Club Méditerranée SA, is a French travel and tourism operator headquartered in Paris, specializing in all-inclusive holidays. Founded in 1950, the company has been primarily ow ...

ad with Carla Bruni in the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

. 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 Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and Paris while working for Armani,

Fendi Fendi Srl () is an Culture of Italy, Italian luxury goods, luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925 by fashion designers Edoardo Fendi and ...

Jean Paul Gaultier Jean Paul Gaultier (; born 24 June 1952) is a French haute couture and Ready-to-wear, prêt-à-porter fashion designer. He is described as an "enfant terrible" of the fashion industry and is known for his unconventional designs with motifs in ...

, 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 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a ...

. She hosted the television programs ''Quelli che... il calcio'' in 1993 on

Rai 3 Rai 3 (formerly Rai Tre) is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It was launched on 15 December 1979 and its programming is centred towards cultural a ...

, ''Scommettiamo che....'' in 1999 with Fabrizio Frizzi on

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television channel and is known for broadcasting ...

, 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 1999, she appeared in an episode of the series '' Il commissario Montalbano''. In 2016 and 2017, Jnifen starred in Project Runway Middle East on MBC as a jury member along with Lebanese designer

Elie Saab Elie Saab () (born 4 July 1964) is a Lebanon-based fashion designer. He started his business in the early 1980s and specialized in bridal couture (high-end fabrics, lace, gemstones, Swarovski Crystal, Swarovski crystals, pearls, detailed embr ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian actress Yousra. In 2017, she was named ambassador of "Fashion 4 Development". In 2018, she made a comeback in modeling.

Personal life

Jnifen have been married four times, the first one was when she was young in Tunisia; the second from 1990 to 2001 with the lawyer Marco Squatri (one son together); The third from 2001 to 2018 with the businessman

Marco Tronchetti Provera Marco Tronchetti Provera (; born 1948) is an Italian businessman. He formerly served as chief executive officer of the Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli & Co. S.p.A. from 1992 to 2022, where he continues to serve as executive vice chairman. ...

, chairman and CEO of Pirelli & C. S.p.A. and

Telecom Italia TIM S.p.A. (formerly Telecom Italia S.p.A.) is an Italian telecommunications company with headquarters in Rome, Milan, and Naples (with the Telecom Italia Tower), which provides fixed, public and mobile telephony, and DSL data services. It is ...

; and the fourth since October 2021 with the businessman Alessandro del Bono.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jnifen, Afef Living people 1963 births People from Ben Guerdane Tunisian female models Tunisian women television presenters Italian television presenters Italian showgirls Italian women television presenters Tunisian people of Turkish descent Italian people of Tunisian descent Italian people of Turkish descent Tunisian emigrants to Italy