Lisa Ray Biography
She is a former model as well as a Canadian actress. Apart from being a globally acclaimed performer, Lisa Ray is a philanthropist cum a reputed star, who is known for taking challenging roles in issue oriented films.
Early life of Lisa Ray
The actress was born to an Indian Bengali father and Polish mother on 4th of April in the year 1972 in Toronto. She was raised up in Etobicoke’s suburb. During her school days, she attended the following 3 schools:
Etobicoke Collegiate Institute
Richview Collegiate Institute
Silverthorn Collegiate Institute
Having completed her high school degree in 4 years instead of the usual 5 years, Lisa excelled academically.
Besides these, she used to accompany her cinephile father in watching movies of Satyajit Ray and Federico Fellini. Ms. Ray began modeling at the age of 16 years, when she was spotted in a crowd while on a family vacation in this country. She even used to speak Polish to her Polish maternal grandmother.
Career of Lisa Ray
Her known public appearance happened with the Bombay Dyeing’s advertisement, where she posed with Karan Kapoor. Post that, she went to Canada to pursue her university education on journalism. However, those plans got derailed due to a car injury, whereby her mother got injured. This made her return to India and start her career as a model. She then appeared on the Glad Rags’ cover page. She even accompanied model cum actor Kelly Dorjee in anchoring Star Biz, a television (T. V.) show on Star Movies.
Ray made her debut in cinemas in the year 1994 in Nethaji, a Tamil film. Her debut role in a Bollywood film was done in a movie called Kasoor in 2001, where she acted opposite the Bollywood actor Aftab Shivdasani. Her voice in that film needed to be dubbed though as she was unable to speak Hindi. She has got experience of working with some of the production houses of the United States, Europe and Canada. Details of some of her works are provided in the below mentioned table:
Sl. No. | Film | Year | Role | Other Details |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nethaji | 1996 | Priya | Tamil film |
2 | Hanste Khelte | 1994 | Rekha | Special appearance in a Hindi film’s song |
3 | Kasoor | 2001 | Simran Bhargav | Hindi film |
4 | Takkari Donga | 2002 | Bhuvana | Telugu film |
5 | Bollywood Hollywood | 2002 | Sunita Singh (Sue) | Multi lingual film (English, Punjabi and Spanish) |
6 | Ball and Chain | 2004 | Saima | |
7 | Yuvaraja | 2004 | Lovely | Kannada film |
8 | The Standard | 2005 | Bollywood Actress | T. V. series |
9 | Water | 2005 | Kalyani | |
10 | Seeking Fear | 2005 | Nina Atwal | |
11 | The Flowerman | 2006 | Louise | |
12 | Quarter Life Crisis | 2006 | Angel | |
13 | A Stone’s Throw | 2006 | Lia | |
14 | I Can’t Think Straight | 2007 | Tala | |
15 | Blood Ties | 2007 | Elena | 1 episode of a T. V. series |
16 | The World Unseen | 2007 | Miriam | |
17 | All Hat | 2007 | Etta Parr | |
18 | Kill Kill Faster Faster | 2008 | Fleur | |
19 | Toronto Stories | 2008 | Beth | |
20 | The Summit | 2008 | Rebecca Downy | T. V. series (Mini) |
21 | Somnolence | 2009 | Jeany Rodriguez | |
22 | Defendor | 2009 | Dominique Ball | |
23 | Cooking with Stella | 2009 | Maya Chopra | |
24 | Let the Game Begin | 2009 | Eva | |
25 | Psych | 2009 | Sita | “Bollywood Homicide”, episode 6 of the season 4 of a T. V. series |
26 | Trader Games | 2010 | Sarah | |
27 | 1 a Minute | 2010 | Star | |
28 | Murdoch Mysteries | 2011 | T. B. D. | 1 episode of a T. V. series |
In an announcement on 15th November, 2011, Ray declared that she has been named for hosting Top Chef Canada, Season 2.
Awards won by Lisa Ray
During her initial career, she was named by a poll of Times of India as the “9th most beautiful woman of the millennium”. Followed by such other recognitions, she has won some awards for her good performance and acting. Following are some of them:
Voted Star of the Future in the Toronto International Film Festival, 2002
Best Actress by the Vancouver Critics Circle for Water
Voice Achievers Award, 2009 for exceptional contribution in film, literature, sports and trade
Personal Life of Lisa Ray
On 23rd of June, 2009, Ray was diagnosed and confirmed to have multiple myeloma, which is a type of cancer that affects the plasma cells. Popularly called “White Blood Cells” or W. B. C., these cells produce antibodies. According to the medical science, this disease is rare. However, followed by a transplantation of a stem cell, she was fortunate enough to be able to announce that she is free from cancer during the month of April, 2010.