Lisa Ray
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lisa Ray | |
|---|---|
 Ray being interviewed on The Hour |
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| Born | Lisa Ray April 4, 1972 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Actress, Model |
| Years active | 2001 – present |
| Official website | |
- For the American-born actress and fashion designer known professionally as LisaRaye, see LisaRaye McCoy-Misick.
Lisa Ray (Hindi: लीसा रे), born 4 April 1972,[1] is an Canadian actress and former fashion model. She was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma on 23 June 2009 and started her first cycle of treatment on 2 July 2009.[2]
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[edit] Early life
Lisa Ray was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to a Bengali Indian father and a Polish mother and grew up in the suburb of Etobicoke, Toronto.[3] She excelled academically, doing five years of high school in four, while attending three different high schools: Etobicoke Collegiate Institute, Richview Collegiate Institute and Silverthorn Collegiate Institute.[4]
She spoke Polish to her maternal grandmother and watched movies of Federico Fellini and Satyajit Ray with her cinephile dad.[3] Ray was spotted by an agent in a crowd during a family vacation in India when she was 16, when she began modeling.[3]
[edit] Career
Lisa Ray first came to the public attention when she appeared in an advertisement for Bombay Dyeing wearing a high-cut black swimsuit[2] opposite Karan Kapoor.[5] 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.[4]
She first made her cinematic debut in 1994 in the Tamil film Nethaji opposite actor Sarath Kumar where she appeared in a brief role. It went unnoticed. After turning down a number of roles,[6] she made her Bollywood debut with the film Kasoor in 2001 opposite Aftab Shivdasani[5] where her voice was subsequently dubbed by Divya Dutta as she could not speak Hindi.[7] Her work in that film caught the eye of Deepa Mehta who cast Ray in the romantic Indian-Canadian romp, Bollywood/Hollywood in 2002.[3] In 2005, she worked again with Mehta in the Oscar-nominated film, Water where she did speak her own lines in Hindi although her voice was dubbed in the final cut of the film.[7] Since then 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 & a Christian-Arab lesbian in the humorously entitled "I Can't Think Straight" directed by Shamim Sarif.
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 guest starred in USA Network series Psych, which was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar, which aired on 30 November 2009.
She appeared in the famous song "Afreen Afreen" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in 1996.
Lisa Ray has been featured in the Canadian edition of Hello magazine as one of the '50 Most Beautiful People' of the country.
[edit] Personal life
Lisa Ray is living with her longtime partner, the very successful fashion photographer, Paolo Zambaldi. She was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma on 23 June 2009, a cancer of the white blood cells known as plasma cells, which produce antibodies. It is a rare and incurable disease. [8][9]
Ray will be featured in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docu-drama titled 1 a Minute scheduled for release in 2010.[10] The documentary is being made by Namrata Singh Gujral and will also feature cancer suriviors Olivia Newton-John, Diahann Carroll, Melissa Etheridge, Mumtaz (actress) and Jaclyn Smith as well as William Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin and Priya Dutt, whose lives have been touched by cancer. The feature is narrated by Kelly McGillis. The film will also feature Morgan Brittany.
[edit] Awards
- Voted Star of the Future at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival,[11]
- Top Ten most Beautiful Indian Woman of the Millenium by the Times of India
- Won the Best Actress in a Canadian film for Water by the Vancouver Critics Circle (ref: imdb.com, Glow magazine, December 2007).
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Hanste Khelte | Rekha | |
| Nethaji | Priya | Tamil language film | |
| 2001 | Kasoor | Simran Bhargav | Hindi language film |
| 2002 | Takkari Donga | Bhuvana | Telugu language film |
| 2002 | Bollywood/Hollywood | Sue (Sunita) Singh | |
| 2002 | Ball & Chain | Saima | |
| 2004 | Yuvaraja | Lovely | Kannada language film |
| 2005 | The Standard | Bollywood Actress | TV Series |
| Water | Kalyani | ||
| Seeking Fear | Nina Atwal | ||
| 2006 | The Flowerman | Louise | |
| Quarter Life Crisis | Angel | ||
| A Stone's Throw | Lia | ||
| 2007 | I Can't Think Straight | Tala | |
| Blood Ties | Elena | TV Series, 1 episode | |
| The World Unseen | Miriam | ||
| 2008 | Kill Kill Faster Faster | Fleur | |
| Toronto Stories | Beth | ||
| The Summit | Rebecca Downy | TV Mini-Series | |
| 2009 | Somnolence | ||
| Defendor | Dominique Ball | ||
| Cooking with Stella | Maya Chopra | ||
| Let the Game Begin | Eva | completed | |
| 2010 | Trader Games | Sarah | post-production |
[edit] References
- ^ "Lisa Ray finds strength in blogging about cancer". CTV News. 2009-09-14. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090914/TIFF_lisa_ray_090914?s_name=&no_ads=. Retrieved 2009-11-15. "The 37-year-old..."
- ^ a b Adarsh Chauhan (2009-09-09). "Lisa Ray diagnosed with incurable cancer". Jai Bihar. http://jaibihar.com/lisa-ray-diagnosed-with-cancer/12143/. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
- ^ a b c d Chatelaine.com : The thoroughly Canadian charm of Lisa Ray
- ^ a b Liam Lacey (2002-09-12). "Just a pinch of spice". The Globe & Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/special/filmfestival/2002/news/20020912ray.html. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
- ^ a b Anand Sankar (2005-07-30). "A ray of hope for her". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/07/30/stories/2005073002440300.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
- ^ Liz Braun (2008-11-07). "Lisa Ray shines in the spotlight". Toronto Sun. http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/R/Ray_Lisa/2008/11/07/7334866-sun.html. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
- ^ a b P. Karthik (2008-02-20). "I’m loving it: Lisa Ray". Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_Buzz/Im_loving_it_Lisa_Ray/articleshow/2795774.cms. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
- ^ http://www.torontolife.com/features/24-hours-with-lisa-ray/
- ^ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India_Buzz/Im_loving_it_Lisa_Ray/articleshow/2795774.cms
- ^ http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/indian-star-rallies-celebrity-support-for-cancer-movie_1118440
- ^ Constance Droganes (2007-09-10). "Canadian actress Lisa Ray goes a little bit country in 'All Hat'". CTV News. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story//20070910/ENT_tiff_LISARAY_080910/20070912?s_name=tiff2007. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
[edit] External links
- Lisa Ray diagnosed with incurable cancer Myeloma
- Lisa Ray at the Internet Movie Database
- Lisa Ray Controversial Stills From Kill Kill Faster Faster
- Profile on Lisa Ray World
- GlamSham Article
- Lisa Ray Interview on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos
- Lisa's Weblog
- Lisa Ray Blogs, “I am Suffering From Incurable Cancer”
