Dayanara Torres was born into a poor but close-knit family in the small town of Toa Alta, Puerto Rico. During her senior year of high school, she was discovered by two scouts from the Miss Puerto Rico pageant.
Although she never imagined she could compete in the pageants she grew up watching, she went ahead with their advice and represented her town in the pageant. To her great surprise, Dayanara won the Miss Puerto Rico crown and months later, she won the Miss Universe crown (1993) at the age of 18.
Her victory made her a "national treasure" on her island of Puerto Rico and catapulted her into global stardom. She became an international ambassador for UNICEF and continued to travel around the world as its representative even after the end of her reign.
After finishing her year as Miss Universe and handing over her crown, Torres became an overnight sensation in the Philippines, where she became the host of the two most popular television shows, "Eazy Dancing" and the highly rated variety show "ASAP".
