Jacqueline Fernandez Biography – A Sri Lankan Actress worked in Indian Films

Jacqueline Fernandez (born 11 August 1985) is a Sri Lankan actress and model. She has worked in Indian films, predominantly in Hindi, besides appearing in reality shows and music videos. Debuting with Aladin in 2009, she has since established a career in the Hindi film industry. Fernandez was born and raised in Bahrain to a multiracial Eurasian family of Sri Lankan, Canadian, and Malaysian descent. 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 has crowned Miss Universe Sri Lanka in 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 the psychological thriller Murder 2 (2011), her first commercial success. This was followed by glamorous roles in the commercially successful ensemble-comedy Housefull 2 (2012) and the action thriller Race 2 (2013), which garnered her an IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination. Fernandez went on to star in the top-grossing action film Kick (2014) and the comedies Housefull 3 (2016) and Judwaa 2 (2017).

Alongside her screen acting career, Fernandez has worked as a judge in the ninth season of the dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa (2016–2017), and is a popular celebrity endorser for various brands and products, has participated in stage shows, and is active in humanitarian work.

Early life and modeling career (Jacqueline Fernandez Biography)

Jacqueline Fernandez was born on 11 August 1985 in Manama, Bahrain, and was raised in a multi-ethnic family. Her father, Elroy Fernandez, is a Sri Lankan Burgher, and her mother, Kim, is of Malaysian and Canadian descent. Her maternal grandfather is Canadian, and her paternal great-grandparents were from Goa in India. Her father, a musician in Sri Lanka, moved to Bahrain in the 1980s to escape civil unrest between the Sinhalese and Tamils and subsequently met her mother, who was an air hostess. She is the youngest of four children, with one elder sister and two elder brothers. After receiving her early education in Bahrain at Sacred Heart School, she studied mass communication at the University of Sydney in Australia. After graduating, she did a couple of television shows in Sri Lanka. She also attended the Berlitz school of languages, where she learned Spanish and improved her French and Arabic.

According to Fernandez, she had aspired to become an actress at a young age and fantasized about becoming a Hollywood movie star. She received some training at the John School of Acting. Although she was a television reporter, she accepted offers in the modeling industry due to her pageant success. In 2006, she had crowned the Miss Universe Sri Lanka pageant winner and represented Sri Lanka at the world Miss Universe 2006 pageant held in Los Angeles. In a 2015 interview, Fernandez described the modeling industry as “a good training ground” and said: “It is a medium that is about shedding your inhibitions, knowing your body, confidence.” In 2006, she appeared in a music video for the song “O Sathi” by music duo Bathiya and Santhush and young female singer Umaria Sinhawansa.

Acting career (Jacqueline Fernandez Biography)

2009–2013: Debut and breakthrough

In 2009, Fernandez traveled to India for a modeling assignment. She successfully auditioned for Sujoy Ghosh’s fantasy film Aladin (2009), her acting debut. She played the love interest of Riteish Deshmukh‘s character, a role based on the character of Princess Jasmine. And Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN felt she was: “easy on the eyes and appears confident but has precious little to do.” Although the film was a critical and commercial failure, she won the IIFA Award for Star Debut of the Year – Female.

Fernandez’s first release in 2013 was Race 2, an ensemble action thriller (alongside Saif Ali Khan, John Abraham, and Deepika Padukone), described as the “cinematic equivalent of a trashy novel” by critics Rajeev Masand. She played Omisha, a femme fatale, a role that required her to learn fencing and some acrobatics. The film emerged as a commercial success, with a worldwide gross of more than ₹1.8 billion (US$23 million) and a net of over ₹1 billion (US$13 million). In a particularly scathing review, Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV wrote that Fernandez and Padukone “strut around like wound-up automatons that are all decked-up but have nowhere to go.” Also that year, Fernandez appeared in an item number titled “Jaadu Ki Jhappi” for Prabhu Deva’s romantic comedy Ramaiya Vastavaiya.

2014–present: Commercial success

In 2014, Fernandez appeared in Sajid Nadiadwala’s directorial debut—the action film Kick, a remake of a 2009 Telugu film of the same name. She starred opposite Salman Khan, playing Shaina, a psychiatrist. She retained her real voice for the first time in Kick. While Sneha May Francis commented that she is: “incredibly dazzling and moves like magic,” Raja Sen of Rediff.com was more critical of her dialogue delivery, calling it “unfortunate.”^[45] The film received mixed reviews from critics, but with worldwide revenue of over ₹3.75 billion (US$47 million), it became the fourth highest-grossing Bollywood film. The film established Fernandez as one of the most popular Bollywood actresses.

Fernandez is filming Tarun Mansukhani’s next, Drive, opposite Sushant Singh Rajput. She is set to star in the Netflix original film, Mrs. Serial Killer, directed by Shirish Kunder. She is also set to feature with Akshay Kumar for the fourth time in the gangster drama Bachchan Pandey.

Personal life and other work

Fernandez shares a close bond with her family and admits she misses being around them. She says: “I miss them so much every day. When you live away from home, you don’t realize how difficult life can be […] At the same time, staying away from them has taught me to be more responsible. It has taught me many things about myself, priorities, and time management.”

In 2008, Fernandez started dating Bahraini prince Hassan bin Rashid Al Khalifa, whom she met at a mutual friend’s party; they separated in 2011. While filming Housefull 2 in 2011, Fernandez began a romantic relationship with director Sajid Khan. The relationship attracted media coverage in India and speculation of an impending wedding. However, the relationship ended in May 2013.

Fernandez has supported charitable organizations and several causes. For advocating the welfare of animals, Fernandez was named “Woman Of The Year” by PETA (India) in 2014.

Fernandez has participated in several concert tours and televised award ceremonies. In 2013, she performed at the Temptations Reloaded in Auckland, Perth, and Sydney alongside Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, and Madhuri Dixit. She also performed at the live talent show “Got Talent World Stage Live” with Khan, Priyanka Chopra, and Varun Dhawan the following year. In July 2014, Fernandez opened a restaurant in Colombo, Kaema Sutra, in collaboration with chef Dharshan Munidasa, specializing in contemporary Sri Lankan cuisine. In July 2018, Fernandez co-founded her activewear clothing line-up, Just F.

In the media

In 2008 and 2011, Fernandez featured in the UK magazine Eastern Eye‘s “World’s Sexiest Asian Women” list, ranking twelfth. She was ranked third on The Times of India‘s listing of the “Most Desirable Woman” in 2013 and 2014, after being ranked eighth, seventh, and fourteenth in the preceding three years. In 2013, Rediff.com placed her on their list of “Bollywood’s Best Dressed Actresses.” The following year, she held the sixty-second position in the Indian edition of the Forbes Celebrity 100, a list based on the income and popularity of India’s celebrities.

In 2017, Fernandez invested ₹35 million (US$440,000) in Rakyan Beverages’ Raw Pressery. The company claims that with this investment, Fernandez became India’s first celebrity to part-finance a consumer products firm.

Money laundering case

Since December 2021, Fernandez has been subjected to an investigation into a money laundering case involving $200 million. The investigation is being carried out by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which questioned Fernandez for 10 hours about the case on 9 December 2021. On 22 December, ED rejected Fernandez’s request to downgrade the Lookout Circular (LOC), which was issued against her in the case which blocks her from traveling outside India.

Fernandez was removed from The Ghost’s upcoming movie, which will star Nagarjuna. It is speculated that the eviction from the movie happened due to the money laundering case.

Filmography (Jacqueline Fernandez Biography)

Films

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

• All films are in Hindi unless otherwise noted.

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Aladin	Jasmine	Debut film
2010	Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai	Tara
	Housefull	Dhanno	Special appearance in song “Aapka Kya Hoga (Dhanno)”
2011	Murder 2	Priya
2012	Housefull 2	Bobby Kapoor
2013	Race 2	Omisha
	Ramaiya Vastavaiya	Herself	Special appearance in song “Jadoo Ki Jhappi”
2014	Kick	Shaina Mehra
2015	Roy	Ayesha Aamir/Tia Desai
	Bangistan	Rosanna (Rosie)	Cameo appearance
	Brothers	Jenny Fernandes
	Definition of Fear	Sarah Fording	British film
2016	Housefull 3	Ganga “Gracy” Patel
	Dishoom	Meera Balraj “Ishika” Behl
	A Flying Jatt	Kirti
2017	According to Mathew	Daphne Reynolds	Sri Lankan film
	A Gentleman	Kavya Chetwani
	Judwaa 2	Alishka Bakshi
2018	Baaghi 2	Herself	Special appearance in song “Ek Do Teen”
	Race 3	Jessica Gomes
2019	Saaho	Herself	Simultaneously shot in Telugu; special appearance in song “Bad Boy”
	Drive	Tara	Netflix film
2020	Mrs. Serial Killer	Sona Mukherjee	Netflix film
2021	Radhe	Herself	Special appearance in the song “Dil De Diya”
	Bhoot Police	Kanika “Kanu” Kulbhushan	Disney+ Hotstar release
2022	Bachchhan Paandey	Sophie
	Attack	Ayesha
	Vikrant Rona	Racquel D’Coasta aka Gadang Rakkamma	Cameo appearance; Kannada film
	Cirkus	TBA	Filming
	Ram Setu	TBA	Filming

Television

Music videos

Awards and nominations

Fernandez has won numerous awards for her works in Housefull 2, its sequel Housefull 3, Murder 2, and Race 3.

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