RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 23, 2008 (AFP) - A 20-year-old unknown Brazilian male model has got a shot at the big time in New York, thanks to a media frenzy over him kissing Madonna.

Madonna

Jesus Luz has had his face splashed all over US and British publications -- often under cute headlines playing up the tryst between "Madonna" and "Jesus" -- according to Brazil's G1 news website on Tuesday.

Luz, who turns 21 on January 15, was spotted sucking face with the 50-year-old US pop star in a Rio de Janeiro hotel following one of her concerts during the last legs of her "Sticky and Sweet" world tour.

The two were said to have met during a photo shoot for a US magazine.

The photographer on that shoot, Steven Klein, has reportedly invited Luz to New York to work.

"We still don't know what we're going to do. I need to sit down calmly and talk, see what he wants to do with his life," Luz's current Brazilian agent, Sergio Mattos of the firm 40 Graus, said.

He claimed his model's break was not entirely thanks to kissing Madonna, but also because Klein was impressed with his work.

Brazilian media said Luz's career had been nascent before his lips found those of one of the most famous women on the planet.

He had mainly done catwalk parades for local labels and appeared in Rio's fashion show for only 170 dollars a pop.

Now, he could hope to pocket three times that, specialists said.

The social pages of a Rio daily, O Dia, affirmed Madonna was "passionate" about Luz and had kept him by her side for the rest of her stay in Brazil, including for a post-concert party last Sunday night.

Madonna has been granted permission for a quickie divorce from husband Guy Ritchie that should be decreed in early January. She has been romantically linked to a US baseball star, Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez, for the past few months.RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 23, 2008 (AFP)