In the magazine's latest 100 Sexiest Women in the World poll, she landed at the eighth (8th) spot, defeating more popular actresses such as Anne Curtis, KC Concepcion and Kim Chiu! A truly meteoric rise; she was ranked 77th last year.
In photo below, she poses as image model for clothing brand Bench.
Bela (as with most Pinay magazine cover girls and celebrities) is a mestiza (mixed Filipina). She is born to a British banker from Nottingham and a Filipina mother.
Here she poses with a fan in a lace see through dress (right).
The Pinay mestiza actress was discovered by ABS-CBN in 2008 - under the stage name Krista Valle - as a member of the Star Magic Batch 15. She was then cast in the teen TV show Star Magic Presents: "Abt Ur Luv Ur Lyf 2". She then has a minor part in the series Totoy Bato, which had her distant relative Robin Padilla in the lead role.
A change of management in 2010 had her switch channels - from ABS-CBN to GMA7, along with a change in stage name to Bela Padilla. More photos of our featured pretty tisay. (click on images to enlarge)
Sources: Wikipedia, fhm.com.ph, her Facebook fan page, igma.tv