Katrina Kaif (born Katrina Turquotte[5] on 16 July 1983[1][2][3]) is a British Indian actress and former model who appears in Indian films, mainly in the Hindi film industry.[6] She has also appeared in Telugu and Malayalam films. Being a British citizen, she works in India on an employment visa.[4]
Kaif made her acting debut in 2003 with Kaizad Gustad's box office bomb Boom. The following year, she starred in the Telugu romantic comedy Malliswari, which emerged a financial success.[7] In 2007, she earned commercial success in Bollywood with Vipul Shah's Namastey London and later earned recognition for playing glamorous roles in male-centric films such as Partner (2007), Race (2007) and Singh Is Kinng (2008); all of which were box office successes. Kaif subsequently played more prominent roles in films like New York (2009), Rajneeti (2010), Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011), and Ek Tha Tiger (2012, the third highest-grossing Bollywood film).[8] Despite earning mixed reviews from critics for her acting prowess, she has established herself as a commercially successful actress of Hindi cinema.[9]
Background
Kaif was born in Hong Kong,[10] to an Indian Kashmiri father,[11][12][13][14] Mohammed Kaif,[15][16][17][18] and an English mother, Susanna Turcotte,[16][19] who is a British citizen. Her parents divorced when she was very young. Kaif once stated, "My dad, unfortunately, and not out of choice, has had no influence on our upbringing, on our religious or social or moral bearings."[20] When she came to India, she changed her surname to that of her father's, Kaif, because it was Indian in origin.[12][21][22] Furthermore, Ayesha Shroff has maintained that the actress' original name is Katrina Turquotte. She also claims that they gave her the Indian father and also the surname Kaif after cricketer Mohammad Kaif as he was on top at that time. She adds that they also had thought her naming Katrina Kazi.[21][23] From Hong Kong, she and her family moved to China, then to Japan. From there she went to France when she was 8, and thereafter lived for a few months at a time in Switzerland, Poland, Germany, Belgium, and other European countries.[24] Then she moved with her family to Hawaii, and eventually to her mother's home country of England. Although it is often assumed that Kaif is from London, she lived there only for three years before finally moving to Mumbai.[24] Kaif's personal life, including her romantic relationships, has been a great subject to the media. After years of speculations Katrina Kaif admitted in an 2011 interview for a magazine that she was in a serious relationship with actor Salman Khan for several years, which ended in 2010.[25]
Though born to a Muslim father and Christian mother, Kaif's religion is unknown. However she visit various religious places mosques, temples, churches and Sufi Shrines. Kaif once stated in an online interview that she always wear a Taweez.
Education and NGOs
Kaif studied in various countries. Her mother worked in NGOs and so moved to many countries like Hong Kong, Hawaii, France, Germany, China and Japan. She pursued her engineering studies in London at age 17, but she was not interested in that field. Instead, she wanted to be in the fields of modeling and the glamour industry. In an interview in the Times of India, Kaif stated that she came to India to search for her career at the age of seventeen.[26] Her philanthropic work includes her association with an NGO her mother works for, the Relief Projects India.[27]
Filmography
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