María Julia "Maju" Mantilla García was born in 1984 in Trujillo, a city in Peru's northern coast. On December 4, 2004, in the Beauty Crown Theatre located in the Chinese beach city of Sanya, she was crowned Miss World 2004 by the reigning champion, 2003's Miss Ireland Rosanna Davison, daughter of singer Chris de Burgh. During her reign, Mantilla performed a variety of duties focused on fundraising for charitable organizations. She has travelled to Indonesia, Russia, Peru, United States, Russia, Czech Republic, China and many other countries during her reign. She also resided in London, England during her year as Miss World.

Popularly known in her country as "Maju" Mantilla, her aunt Maria Julia Mantilla Mayer was Miss Peru 1969. She won the right to represent Peru in the Miss World contest as runner-up to Liesel Holler (Miss Peru Universe 2004) and was one of the major favorites in the run-up to the pageant, which was decided by a global television/telephone/online vote.

The Dominican Republic's Claudia Cruz and the USA's Nancy Randall were the first and second runners up. Other contestants who made it into the final five were 20-year-old Miss Philippines, Maria Karla (Rabanal) Bautista, and 19-year-old Miss Poland, Katarzyna Borowicz.

The final contest was held in the southernmost Hainan province. The pageant, in its 54th edition, included contestants from 107 nations and attracted about 2.5 billion TV viewers around the world. Mantilla is studying to become a high school teacher and plans to start a second career in tourism.

Mantilla is the older of two sisters. She has worked as a model and as the Hostess of a popular TV show in Peru. She is currently studying to become a high school teacher and plans to start a second career in Tourism. One of her dreams is to own an online tourism company to promote her native town and country all over the world. Her city, Trujillo, is a mixture of colonial and pre-Columbian architecture.

In 2001, Maria Julia became the Peruvian national champion of Triathlon and Penthathlon, and was elected national athlete of the year. She is a professional in The Marinera, a typical local dance. With a group of ladies, developed a program in Trujillo to give breakfast to hundreds of kids in the poor areas. Her personal motto is: My family is my strength.

On December 10, 2005, She crowned her successor, Miss Iceland, Unnur Birna.

--Wikipedia