GENELIA D'SOUZA

GENELIA D'SOUZA was born on 5 August, 1987 in Mumbai into a Mangalorean Catholic family, D'Souza was raised a Roman Catholic in the Bandra suburb of Mumbai. Her mother Jeanette D'Souza was formerly a managing director of the Pharma Multinational corporation (MNC), who left her job in 2004 to help Genelia with her career. Her father Neil D'Souza, is a senior official with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). She also has a younger brother, Nigel D'Souza, who works with the Bombay Stock Exchange.  According to D'Souza, her name "Genelia", means "rare" or "unique".

She completed her degree while shooting for her first film, Tujhe Meri Kasam in 2003 and initially thought that an MNC job would suit her. She liked sports and studies in college, and was a state level athlete, sprinter, and a national level football player. 

D'Souza did her first modeling assignment at the age of 15,  the result of being spotted as the bridesmaid at a wedding. She was selected for the Parker Pen commercial with Amitabh Bachchan, just two days before her exams, and had to shoot the next day. Initially she refused, because of her exam the next day, but the director persuaded D'Souza to shoot for the commercial. She gained wide attention from the Parker Pen commercial with Amitabh Bachchan,  who said "she was good, and her expressions were spontaneous".  She further did a Fair and Lovely2003 Cricket World Cup advertisement with cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth.

When D'Souza was offered a role in Tujhe Meri Kasam, initially she turned it down, as she was not keen to pursue a career in acting. But the crew insisted and kept contacting her for two months, and she agreed when she saw theTelugu version of the movie. Tamil director, S. Shankar, was impressed with her performance in the Parker Pen commercial and decided to cast her in a leading role in his 2003 Tamil film Boys.  D'Souza was selected among 300 girls, who had auditioned for the movie. She signed three movies simultaneously in three different languages, Tujhe Meri Kasam (Hindi), Boys (Tamil), and Satyam (Telugu).

In 2004, D'Souza appeared in her second Bollywood movie, Masti after which she went off and in June 2008, following a nearly five year hiatus in Bollywood, she appeared in Mere Baap Pehle Aap,  which failed to make profit at the box-office. Her breakthrough performance in 2008 was through the portrayal of the role of Aditi Mahant in the blockbuster Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, which was an economic success across India and overseas, grossing 64.1 million (US$12.41 million). Her role was widely admired for her sweetness and freshness, and new style of acting, 

D'Souza is deeply religious and says that, she regularly attends Sunday Mass at St. Anne's Parish (Bandra), and whenever the family is home, a part of their evening is reserved for saying the rosary together.  She and Ritesh were  reportedly ready to get engaged, but Ritesh's father, the then-Maharashtra Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukhdid not agree.  D'Souza later denied any rumors of a relationship with Deshmukh, and responds that she had just friendly relations with him. However, the couple eventually got married according to Marathi marriage traditions in a Hindu wedding ceremony on 3 February 2012.