Who is she?

A 25-year-old model turned actor. She's previously best known for coming second on season 3 of America's Next Top Model.

Another model turned actor? She already sounds like a no-no.

Ouch, I suppose jokes like that are DaCosta fame. Well, Yaya has a little more going for her than just her poise, elegance and looks. She majored in international relations and African studies at Brown University, and even turned down a job at the UN.

How's she getting on with the acting?

She got good notices for her role as a dancer in the Antonio Banderas vehicle Take the Lead and will soon be seen as China Doll in John Sayles's Honeydripper.

So, let me guess: does she play a model or a dancer?

Neither: it's a plum role as Danny Glover's weak-hearted daughter. Sayles isn't the kind of director to hire someone just to stand around and look pretty. She acquits herself admirably in a cast that includes Stacy Keach, Vondie Curtis-Hall and Mary Steenburgen, appearing on screen for many of the film's 123 minutes.

What's next?

She impressed her Honeydripper co-star Charles S Dutton enough for him to give her a role in a TV movie he'd directed, Racing for Time, and has just completed work on Jerry Allen Davis' human trafficking drama The Shanghai Hotel.