Lisa Ray

After wearing a red swimsuit on the cover of the Indian magazine Glad Rags, Lisa Ray became flooded with show business offers. However, acting wasn't Ray's first love. She initially wanted to be a reporter, and briefly studied journalism in Canada. After her mother nearly died in a devastating car crash, however, Ray decided to return to India and ultimately decided on pursuing a career as an actor. In 2001 she landed a starring role in the Bollywood romance mystery, "Kasoor." That film gathered considerable attention and before long the Canadian-Indian director Deepa Mehta had set her sights on casting Ray as the lead in her next movie, 2002's "Bollywood/Hollywood," in which she played a pop singer named Sue. Mehta was impressed with Ray's performance in the film and cast her again in her 2005 romantic drama "Water." The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, adding to Ray's already growing status as an international star. By the late 2000s Ray began appearing almost exclusively in English language movies, such as the 2007 western "All Hat," the 2008 thriller "Kill Kill Faster Faster," and the 2009 comedy "Cooking with Stella." In 2009 Ray also made a guest appearance on the America sitcom "Psych" and in 2011 began a recurring role on the Canadian crime drama "Endgame."