At a very early age she was attracted to showbusiness, and she became a fashion model; in 1995 she played parts in soap operas and in her first movie, Black Holes directed by Pappi Corsicato; then she had a supporting role in Graduates directed by Leonardo Pieraccioni, which brought her to the attention of the moviegoing public.　　She continued acting in other movies and stage productions, such as A pretty story of a woman e Liolà at the side of Gianfranco Jannuzzo and under the direction of Gigi Proietti.　　In 2000 Manuela Arcuri, now considered a sex symbol, appeared in a calendar for the magazine GenteViaggi; the following year, she posed for another calendar, this time for the magazine Panorama, obtaining great success that consolidated her reputation and helped her land a role in the TV series Carabinieri. In 2001 she hosted the TV show Mai dire Goal with the Gialappa's Band. In 2002 she was crowned as a TV star by co-hosting Sanremo 'Festival (2002) alongside Pippo Baudo and her colleague, actress Vittoria Belvedere.　　In 2003 she co-hosted with Teo Teocoli and Anna Maria Barbera the eighth series of the TV comedy show Scherzi a parte.　　Manuela has been in relationships with several celebrities: among these the soccer player Francesco Coco and Olympic fencing champion Aldo Montano. In 2009, she began dating philanthropist Austin Ryan Fuentes. They broke up in fall 2010 after he left her to date model Arshiya Parmar.