Ileana DCruz
Name: Ileana D’Cruz
Birthday: 1st November, 1987
Zodiac: Scorpio
Marital Status: Single
Awards: Ileana D’Cruz won her first Filmfare Best Debut Female award in 2006 for her film Devadasu. Thereafter, she also won the Santosham Best Actress Award and South Scope Style Award for Best Actress for her performance in 2008 film Jalsa, for which she received a Filmfare nomination in Telugu category as well.
Trivia: An already established actress in Telugu films down south, and a newbie in the Hindi film industry, Ileana D’Cruz is the latest addition to the “To-Watch-Out-For” list of new entrants in Bollywood. The model-turned-actress will make her Bolly debut in Anurag Basu’s film “Barfi!”
Biography: A simple girl born in Mumbai and brought up for some years in Goa, Ileana D’Cruz is the second of four children of parents Ronaldo and Samira. She has an elder sister named Farrah, a younger brother named Rhys and a younger sister named Eileen.
While she was in Goa, a hotel manager coaxed her into taking up modeling as a career and even introduced her to model-actor-ramp choreographer Marc Robinson. Ileana regards her first portfolio as a disaster, yet she landed into ramp shows and photo shoots. Gradually, thanks to her second portfolio, she grabbed ads for established brands like Emami Talc, Electrolux and Fair & Lovely. The latter ad was directed by Rakesh Roshan, thus opening up vistas for her for acting in films.
Ileana debuted in 2006 in a Telugu romantic film named ‘Devadasu’, for which she took acting lessons from Aruna Bhikshu. Her performance in the film was much appreciated and she was also noticed for amazing figure and sexy legs. The film grossed around 14 crores and the heroine received the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut (Telugu).
Her next film, Pokiri, opposite Mahesh Babu, was also a smash hit success and became the highest grossing Telugu film at that time. However, after this film, her career graph experienced a low, with four subsequent films being commercial failures. Things took a better turn for her, with films like ‘Aata’ and ‘Jalsa’ doing pretty well at the box office. The latter not only brought in some good money, but also earned her prestigious awards and nominations for her performance.
Prior to her failures with ‘Rechipo’ and ‘Saleem’ in 2009, she starred in ‘Kick’, which became among the highest grossing films of the year. The actress again collaborated with her ‘Pokiri’ director Puri Jagannadh, and appeared in his film ‘Nenu Naa Rakshasi’, in which her acting and looks were much praised.
Ileana’s second Tamil film ‘Nanban’ was a remake of 3 Idiots, and she played the role performed by Kareena Kapoor. Much like its Bollywood counterpart, the Tamil version also became quite successful both commercially and critically. As of now, the actress is awaiting the release of her first Hindi film, Barfi!, co-starring Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. She plays the role of a narrator and Ranbir’s first love interest in the film.
The ‘Miss Sexy Legs’ will also be seen in Puri Jagannadh’s next venture ‘Devudu Chesina Manushulu’ where the heroine will be essaying the character of a taxi driver. Her second Bolly film ‘Phata Poster Nikla Hero’ will be a romantic comedy, starring Shahid Kapoor, and is expected to release in 2013.
She is already a star down south, but will she manage to do the same in the Hindi film industry? Wait and watch out for her!