Lisa Ray was born on April 4, 1972 in Toronto, Canada. She is a Canadian actress and former fashion model.
After she graduated from high-school she decided that she wants to be a famous journalist but in the end she renounced after she became a model for a fashion Canadian magazine and appeared on the cover at the age of sixteen.
As a model she made a lot of commercials for many Indian companies and from 2001 she decided to start an acting career.
Lisa Ray first came to the public attention when she appeared in an advertisement for Bombay Dyeing wearing a high-cut black swimsuit opposite Karan Kapoor. Subsequently, she returned to Canada to attend university to study journalism, but a car injury which injured her mother derailed those plans. Instead, she returned to India where she appeared on the cover of Glad Rags wearing a red Baywatch-style swimsuit. The sensation that caused led to more magazine covers, spokesperson deals and a job as host of her own show-business program. A Times of India poll named her the “ninth most beautiful woman of the millennium”, the only model in the top ten.
She first made her cinematic debut in 1994 in a Tamil movie opposite actor Sarath Kumar in the film Nethaji where she appeared in a brief role. It went unnoticed. After turning down a number of roles, she began her Bollywood acting career with the film Kasoor in 2001 opposite Aftab Shivdasani where her voice was subsequently dubbed by Divya Dutta as she could not speak Hindi. Her work in that film caught the eye of Deepa Mehta who cast Ray in the romantic Indian-Canadian romp, Bollywood/Hollywood in 2002. In 2005, she worked again with Mehta in the Oscar-nominated film, Water where she did speak her own lines in Hindi; eventually though her voice was dubbed.Since breaking through she has worked in productions from Canada, Europe and the United states.
Recent roles include a farm girl in All Hat, a school teacher in A Stone’s Throw and a housewife in 50’s apartheid South Africa in The World Unseen.
In 2007, she completed filming for Kill Kill Faster Faster, which is a contemporary film noir inspired by the critically acclaimed novel of the same name by Joel Rose. She appeared nude in the movie and in a few uninhibited sex scenes, something which no mainstream actress of Indian origin had done before.
2009 saw Ray play a Christian-Arab lesbian in the humorously entitled “I Can’t Think Straight” directed by Shamim Sarif.
She appeared in the famous song “Afreen Afreen” by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in 1996.
Movies Done By Lisa Ray
- 1996 Afreen Afreen Music Video
- 1996 Nethaji Priya Tamil film
- 1998 Jalwa Music Video
- 2001 Yuvaraja Lovely Kannada film
- 2001 Kasoor Simran Bhargav Hindi film
- 2002 Choron Ka Chor
- 2002 Takkari Donga Bhuvana Telugu film
- 2002 Bollywood/Hollywood Sunita “Sue” Singh
- 2004 Ball & Chain Saima
- 2005 Water Kalyani
- 2005 Seeking Fear Nina Atwal
- 2006 The Flowerman Louise Short film
- 2006 Quarter Life Crisis Angel Matthews
- 2006 A Stone’s Throw Lia
- 2007 All Hat Etta Parr
- 2007 I Can’t Think Straight Tala
- 2008 Kill Kill Faster Faster Fleur
- 2008 The World Unseen Miriam
- 2008 Toronto Stories Beth
- 2009 Defendor Dominique Ball
- 2009 Cooking with Stella Maya Chopra
- 2009 Somnolence
- 2010 Let the Game Begin Eva Stout
- 2010 Trader Games Sarah
- 2011 Patch Town Bethany Franks Short film
- 2016 Ishq Forever Naina Hindi film
- 2016 Veerappan Hindi film
- 2017 Dobaara Liza Merchant Hindi film
- 2019 99 Songs Hindi film
- Television Series Done By Lisa Ray
- 2007 Blood Ties Elena Citytv “Stone Cold”
- 2008 The Summit Rebecca Downy TV miniseries
- 2009 Psych Sita USA Network “Bollywood Homicide” S04E06
- 2011 Murdoch Mysteries Mirela Citytv “The Black Hand”
- 2011 Endgame Rosemary Venturi Showcase Regular role
- 2012–2014 Top Chef Canada Host Food Network Seasons 2–4
- 2019–2020 Four More Shots Please! Samara Kapoor Amazon Prime Video Season 1–2
Awards And Nominations Received By Lisa Ray
- Voted Star of the Future at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival
- 2002 Top Ten most Beautiful Indian Woman of the Millennium by the Times of India
- 2002 Won the Best Actress in a Canadian film for Water by the Vancouver Critics Circle
- Won ‘Voice Achievers Award for 2009’ for outstanding contribution in fields of film, trade, literature and sports
- Named one of Canada’s 50 Most Beautiful Stars in Hello Canada’s May 2009 issue.
- Honored with Fortis Lisa Ray Award for Conquering Cancer in 2010
- Honored with a Special Achievement Award at Miss India-Canada 2011
- Named one of Canada’s 50 Most Beautiful Stars in Hello Canada’s May 2012 issue.
- Honored with People’s Choice Award at the ‘Light of India’ Awards 2012 in Arts & Entertainment section.
- Named one of Canada’s 50 Most Beautiful Stars in Hello Canada’s 2013 issue.
- Honored with the prestigious ‘Diamond Jubilee Medal’ in May 2013.
- Awarded the ‘Facing Cancer Together’ Look Good, Feel Better award in September 2012
- Won Anokhi Prestige award in 2013 in the category of Canadian Actor of the Decade for movie Water.
- Awarded prestigious 2014 Women of Action Honoree by Israel Cancer Research Fund.
- Awarded Medscape award for Most Inspirational Fighter of India 2015