Lima does charitable work helping with an orphanage, "Caminhos da Luz" (Ways of Light), located in her hometown. She helps with construction to expand the orphanage, and buys clothes for poor children in Salvador, Bahia.
She subsequently entered the 1996 Ford "Supermodel of the World" contest and finished in second place. Three years later, Lima moved to New York City and signed with Elite Model Management.
Both sent in pictures, and the contest sponsor soon asked Lima to come out for the competition. Soon after, at the age of 15, she entered and finished in first place in Ford's "Supermodel of Brazil" model search.
Lima never thought about being a model, although she had won many beauty pageants in elementary school. However, she had a friend at school who wanted to enter a modeling contest and didn't want to enter alone, so Lima entered with her.
Lima's first acting role was the wife, alongside Mickey Rourke and Forest Whitaker, in The Follow (2001), a short film in BMW's series The Hire, starring Clive Owen and directed by Wong Kar-wai. 
She also appeared with her fellow Angels in a guest spot playing herself in the series How I Met Your Mother in November 2007.
She appeared on Var mısın? Yok musun?, the Turkish version of Deal or No Deal, where her prize money went to a hospital in Istanbul for children fighting leukemia.
She has been romantically linked to musician/singer Lenny Kravitz and Prince Wenzeslaus of Liechtenstein. In November 2007, it was confirmed that Lima was dating Serbian basketball player Marko Jarić.
Valentine's Day in February 2009. This was followed by two separate weddings in their respective hometowns several weeks later. In May 2009, it was reported that Lima applied for Serbian citizenship.
Originally, the couple planned on a large wedding in Salvador in June 2009. Fulfilling an early ambition, the couple eloped in a private civil ceremony in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on St.
