At 8 years old, she left Senegal with her mother, and moved to Paris.

In 1997, aged 16/17, she was discovered by Oliviero Toscani, commercial photographer for the Benetton brand, which, subsequently, led to modelling assignments.

Fatou learned Guinea-Bissau Creole for her leading role as Vita in the 2002 film Nha fala.

Source: Article "Fatou N'Diaye" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.