Malia Jones (born March 27, 1977) is a model and surfer from Hawaii. She is credited with furthering interest of young girls in the sport of surfing. Malia is of Hawaiian, Spanish and Filipino descent. Malia was born on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. Malia began surfing at the age of three when her mother put her on a surfboard. She began to surf competively in her early teens and by the age of 15 she won the US Amateur Surfing Championship. While competing, Surfing Magazine spotted her and asked her to model and thus a second career was born. Since then, she has appeared in over a dozen magazines, including being named as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine, and one of America's 10 Sexiest Athletes by Esquire. Malia was also a consultant for the Disney movie Lilo & Stitch. Although she is regarded as a swimsuit model, Malia contends that she is a surfer first. In fact she will not sign a modeling contract unless it contains a clause stating she would never be away from a beach for more than two weeks. |