Happy Birthday, Jacqueline Fernandez. Bollywood's Diva@36

Jacqueline Fernandez blows out 36 candles on her birthday cake today. Jacqueline, who was born in Sri Lanka and brought up in Bahrain, is one of Bollywood's favourite actresses. Apart from being an enthu-cutlet, Jacqueline is also well known for her million-dollar smile and infectiously jovial personality. ?As she celebrates her birthday today, here's a look at her journey in Bollywood so far.

Jacqueline was born in Colombo to Sinhalese Sri Lankan father and Malaysian mother. At the age of three, her family moved to Bahrain where she spent most of her childhood. She graduated in Mass Communication from Australia before moving to Sri Lanka to model.

Jacqueline won the Miss Sri Lanka title in 2006 and went on to anchor a television show titled Lanka Business Report.

Jacqueline began her Bollywood career with the 2009 film Aladin opposite Riteish Deshmukh. The role fetched her the Best Debutante prize at the IIFA and Stardust awards in 2010.

There was no looking back for the Sri Lankan beauty after Aladin. Jacqueline's performance in Mahesh Bhatt's hit Murder 2 opposite Emraan Hashmi fetched her lot of attention.

After the success of Murder 2, the actress made headlines for turning down Raaz 3 and the role of Kaya in Krrish 3 opposite Hrithik Roshan. However, she confessed later that she regretted turning down Krrish 3, which eventually went to Kangana Ranaut.

In 2012, Jacqueline was one of the twelve actors in Sajid Khan's hit comedy Housefull 2.

The actress' next big release was Race 2, which had an ensemble cast and released in 2013. It was a sequel to the 2008 hit film Race. Jacqueline reportedly refused to use a body double and performed her own stunts in the film.

But it was 2014 film Kick, in which she featured opposite Salman Khan, which proved to be a turning point in her career. The film was a blockbuster and collected Rs 200 crores in just 11 days and Jacqueline garnered a lot of praise for her performance.

Between the failure of Bangistan and Roy and the success of Brothers, 2015 was mix of hit and flops.

The same year she starred in Hollywood film Definition Of Fear.

2016 started on a dull note for Jacqueline as Housefull 3 tanked but not for long. Dishoom, co-starring john Abraham and Varun Dhawan, did well. She was next seen opposite Tiger Shroff in A Flying Jatt. <

In 2017, Jacqueline first starred in Sri Lankan film According To Matthew and went on to work with Sidharth Malhotra in Hindi film A Gentleman. Later that year, she shared screen space with Varun Dhawan and Taapsee Pannu in Judwaa 2.

Jacqueline has also featured as a judge on dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa.

Jacqueline Fernandez reunited with Salman Khan in the 2018 film Race 3, which also starred Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol and Daisy Shah. The film performed well at the box office. She also featured in a special dance sequence in Tiger Shroff's Baaghi 2 the same year.

In 2019, Jacqueline made a special appearance in the track Bad Boy from Prabhas and Shraddha Kapoor's film Saaho. She then starred alongside late actor Sushant Singh Rajput in Netflix film Drive, directed by Tarun Mansukhani and produced by Karan Johar.

Jacqueline Fernandez made her web-debut in Netflix's Mrs Serial Killer last year. The series also featured Manoj Bajpayee in the lead role. The actress will next be seen in Lakshya Raj Anand's action-thriller Attack, co-starring John Abraham.

Jacqueline also featured in several music videos last year such as Mere Angne Mein, Genda Phool and Tere Bina, in which she co-starred with Salman Khan.

The actress was last seen in the popular track Paani Paani with Badshah.

Her upcoming projects include Bachchan Pandey and Ram Setu with Akshay Kumar and Cirkus with Ranveer Singh. She awaits the release of Bhoot Police with Arjun Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and Yami Gautam.