Sameera Reddy

Sameera Reddy was born on 14 December 1978 in Bombay (present day Mumbai), Maharashtra^[2] to a Telugu father and a Mangalorean Konkani mother.^[3][4] Her mother Nakshatra,^[5] referred to as Niki by her daughters and the media, was a microbiologist and worked with an NGO.^[6][7] She has two siblings, Meghna Reddy, a former VJ and supermodel,^[8] and Sushama Reddy, a Bollywood actress and model,^[9] both elder to her.^[10] She did her schooling at Bombay Scottish School in Mahim, Mumbai and graduated from Sydenham College.

Reddy described herself as a "tomboy" and "the ugly duckling in the family", while citing: "I was plump, had glasses and my glam quotient was rather low till I was 19."^[10]

Reddy first appeared in ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas's "Aur Aahista" music video in 1997.^[11] She was meant to make her debut as an actress in Saravana Subbiah's Tamil film Citizen, during the early 2000s, but eventually did not feature.^[12] She caught the attention of Bollywood and was cast in a pivotal role in the 2002 Hindi film Maine Dil Tujhko Diya. In 2004, she appeared in Musafir, opposite Anil Kapoor, Aditya Pancholi and Koena Mitra.

Reddy had a huge fan base in south India after her debut in Vaaranam Aayiram. Reddy is also the first Indian actress to have her own video game, Sameera the Street Fighter.^[13] Reddy was a judge for the Miss Sri Lanka Online contest in 2012.^[14]

Reddy married Akshai Varde, an entrepreneur, on 21 January 2014, in a traditional Maharashtrian ceremony.^[15][16] They have a son and daughter.^[17][18]

Being a fan of American talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey, Reddy met and presented a saree to Winfrey during her visit to India.^[19]

• List of Hindi film actresses