Rima Fakih

Fakih in 2012, photo by Prphotos

Place of Birth: Srifa, Lebanon

Date of Birth: September 22, 1985

Ethnicity: Lebanese

Rima Fakih is an American model, actress, and beauty pageant titleholder. She won Miss USA 2010. She represented Michigan in the national pageant, and previously won the 2010 Miss Michigan USA pageant. She is the first American of Arab descent to win Miss USA.

Rima was born in Srifa, in the Jabal Amel region of Southern Lebanon, and was raised in Souk El Gharb. She is the daughter of Hussein and Nadia Fakih. After the Lebanese Civil War, her family moved to New York City, New York, U.S. in 1993, and later to Dearborn, Michigan, where there is a large Arab-American community. She is married to Lebanese-born Canadian, entrepreneur, philanthropist, music manager, and record executive Wassim “Sal” Slaiby, with whom she has three children. Born into a Shia Muslim family, she converted to Maronite Christianity, Wassim’s faith.