Genelia D'Souza Biography

Born 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 secretary to managing director with a Pharma 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. According to D'Souza, her name "Genelia", means "rare" or "unique", and is a portmanteau of Jeanette and Neil, her mother and father's name. She is also often informally referred to as Geenu, her nick name. D'Souza studied at the Apostolic Carmel High School in Bandra and later joined St. Andrew's College in Bandra to pursue her Bachelor's Degree of Management Studies. 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 also a State level athlete, sprinter and a National level Football player. D'Souza did her first modeling assignment at age 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 Lovely 2003 Cricket World Cup advertisement with cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth.

Acting career: (Debut and breakthrough, 2003â��2005)

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 they insisted and kept contacting her for two months, and she agreed when she saw the Telugu version of the movie. D'Souza made her acting debut in Bollywood in 2003, with Tujhe Meri Kasam, alongside Ritesh Deshmukh. The movie centers on two friends, who study in the same college, have houses opposite each other, and were born in the same hospital on the same day. D'Souza portrayed Anju, one of the friends. The movie garnered poor box office returns, and it failed to propel her career in Bollywood. Following her poor debut in Bollywood, she decided to act in South Indian films. 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, a story about about five teenagers having stereotypical teen-boy fantasies. D'Souza portrayed the character of Harini, a girl who falls in love with one of the boys from the group. The movie was well received, and subsequently she started receiving Telugu film offers. She left Tamil cinema for a while to concentrate on the Telugu film industry. She made her Telugu debut in Satyam in 2003 opposite Sumanth, in which she played the role of a medical student, for which she was praised for her performance. The movie was a box-office success, and it raised her profile in the Telugu film industry. Broader public recognition came to D'Souza in her second Hindi movie, Masti in 2004, which was also opposite Ritesh Deshmukh. The comedy focuses on three close friends who reunite after three years, but are now married and are being harassed by their wives. D'Souza portrayed the character of one of the wives. Indian film critic Taran Adarsh was complimentary of D'Souza's role, saying, "Amongst the wives, Genelia is the best, Genelia looks the stern and demanding wife and is sure to be noticed." This film was a critical success, and also fared well at the UK box office. The same year, she appeared in the Telugu fim Samba. Her final Telugu movie in 2004 was Sye, set against a rugby union backdrop, in which she played the role of a vivacious college student. In 2005, D'Souza experienced a slump in her career. Her first Telugu movie in 2005, Naa Alludu, was commercially unsuccessful. Later that year, she starred in the Tamil romantic entertainer Sachein, in which she played the role of Shalini, a typical fashionable college-going Tamil girl. A review in the The Hindu noted, "Genelia, who hardly made an impression in Boys, makes much impact in Sachein." The movie evoked mixed response from audiences, but was well received with the younger generation, and was a commercial success. She later appeared in the Telugu patriotic movie Subhash Chandra Bose set against a backdrop of Pre-independece period, which was also an economic failure.

Genelia D'Souza