Sweet As Barfi, Ileana D'Cruz @31

Sweet as Barfi!, actress Ileana D'Cruz turns 31 today (November 1). Post her big screen debut the actress gained prominence in the southern film industry and then made an illustrious career in Bollywood. Here a pictorial look at her career so far.

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Ileana was born to lawyer Ronaldo D'Cruz, a Roman Catholic, and Sameera, who is a Muslim. Ileana was brought up in Mumbai and was initially reluctant to step into showbiz. However she came into notice after several photo shoots, modelling shows and advertisements. She especially came to notice after the Fair and Lovely ad directed by filmmaker Rakesh Roshan.

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On the personal front, Ileana is reportedly dating Australian photographer Andrew Kneebone. Ileana has been open about her relationship and earlier this year she sparked off engagement rumours by posting a selfie on Instagram, showing off a solitaire on her ring finger.

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Ileana made her silver screen debut in 2006 Telugu film Devadasu directed by YVS Chowdhary, which fetched her Best Female Debut trophy in South Filmfare Award. The same year Ileana made her Tamil film debut with Kedi.

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While her second film Pokiri was a critical success, her next few films like Rakhi, Khatarnak and Munnabombed at the box office.

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2007-09 proved to be favourable years for Ileana with two back-to-back hits like Aata, Jalsa and Kick.Jalsa and Kick especially earned her approving reviews and various awards. In the same year she delivered two flop films - Rechipo and Saleem .

In 2011, her film Nenu Naa Rakshasi failed at the box office. But next year with the help of films like Nanban and Shakti, Ileana's career gained momentum again. Ileana's performances have always been appreciated by critics and fans, which is probably why she is the highest paid actress in the South Indian film industry.

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In 2012, Ileana made her Bollywood debut in Anurag Basu's critically acclaimed film Barfi! co-starring actors Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. Barfi! swept maximum awards in 2013 and Ileana bagged almost every award for Best Bollywood debutante.

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Ileana was next seen in Rajkumar Santoshi's comedy action film Phata Poster Nikhla Hero opposite Shahid Kapoor. The film was a moderate success. In 2014 , Ileana co-starred with actors Varun Dhawan and Nargis Fakhri in David Dhawan's Main Tera Hero, which was a semi-hit.

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Ileana was next seen in Saif Ali Khan's Happy Ending which also features Kalki Koechlin and Govinda.

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Ileana was next seen in Rustom, directed by Tinu Suresh Desai and produced by Neeraj Pandey. The film starred Akshay Kumar in the lead role. The film was based on the real life incident of Naval Officer K M Nanavati.

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Ileana's 2017 film was Mubarakan - a romantic comedy directed by Anees Bazmee. The film starred Arjun, Anil Kapoor and Athiya Shetty in the lead roles.

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Ileana was last seen in Raid, co-starring Ajay Devgn. The film received great appreciation at the box office.

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We wish Ileana a very happy birthday!

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