Biography

Jacqueline Fernandez is a Bahraini-Sri Lankan actress, former model, and the winner of the Miss Sri Lanka Universe pageant of 2006. One of the most popular actresses in India's Bollywood, she was the recipient of the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year – Female in 2010. Alongside her acting career, Fernandez has participated in stage shows, and is active in humanitarian work. Fernandez was born into a multiracial family of Canadian, Sri Lankan and Malaysian descent. She was born and was raised in Bahrain. After graduating in mass communication from the University of Sydney and working as a television reporter in Sri Lanka, she joined the modeling industry. She was crowned theMiss Sri Lanka Universe 2006, and represented her country at Miss Universe 2006. While on a modeling assignment in India in 2009, Fernandez successfully auditioned for Sujoy Ghosh's fantasy drama Aladin, which marked her acting debut. Fernandez had her breakthrough role with Mohit Suri's psychological thriller Murder 2 (2011), her first commercial success. This was followed by glamorous roles in the ensemble-comedy Housefull 2 (2012) and the action thriller Race 2 (2013)—both of which were box-office successes. Her performance in the former garnered her an IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination. In 2014, Fernandez played the leading lady in Sajid Nadiadwala's Kick, which isone of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of all time.