Biography
Who is Lisa Ray?
Early life and education
Lisa Rani Ray was born in Toronto on April 4, 1972. Her father was an Indian Bengali Hindu, and her mother was a Polish Catholic. She spent her childhood in the suburb of Etobicoke. During her youth, she also lived in Calcutta for a time.
Academically, she excelled and completed five years of high school in four. She attended three different secondary schools in Ontario, including Etobicoke Collegiate Institute and Richview Collegiate Institute. Her upbringing included exposure to global cinema, as she watched films by Satyajit Ray and Federico Fellini with her father.
Modelling and initial fame
Her modelling career started unexpectedly while she was a teenager on a family trip to India. A black swimsuit advertisement for Bombay Dyeing featuring Karan Kapoor brought her immediate attention. Soon after, she appeared on the cover of the fashion magazine Gladrags.
This success led to her becoming one of India's first supermodels. She represented major brands like Lakmé, L’Oréal, MasterCard, De Beers, and Rado. Her partnership with the Swiss watchmaker Rado began in 2000 and lasted more than ten years. A Times of India poll once recognized her as the ninth most beautiful woman of the millennium.
Acting highlights
Lisa Ray made her Indian film industry debut in 2001 with the Hindi movie Kasoor. She then starred in the 2002 romantic film Bollywood/Hollywood. Seeking to refine her craft, she moved to London to study at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. She graduated with a postgraduate degree in acting in 2004.
Her well-known film roles include the lead in the 2005 film Water and the drama The World Unseen. She also appeared in the British romantic comedy I Can't Think Straight in 2008. In later years, she acted in the Amazon Prime series Four More Shots Please! And the 2021 film 99 Songs.
Health advocacy and writing
In 2009, she received a diagnosis of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. She underwent a stem cell transplant that December and announced she was cancer-free by April 2010. During this period, she started a blog called The Yellow Diaries to share her experiences.
She later became an active advocate for stem cell therapy and cancer awareness. In 2019, she published her memoir, Close to the Bone. This book won the Laadli Media and Advertising Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020.
Television and entrepreneurship
She hosted travel shows on Discovery Channel India and served as a host and judge on Food Network’s Top Chef Canada. In 2026, she helped launch NuHer, a menopause clinic based in Mumbai. She co-founded this venture with Binoy Khimji, Zaheer Khan, and Vikas Shah.
Birthday and age
Lisa Ray was born on April 4, 1972, which makes Lisa 54 years old today. That birthday falls under the Aries sign. Lisa shares the date with 35 other famous people.
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