Mallika Sherawat

Mallika Sherawat
Sherawat at the Cannes Film Festival, 2014
Born	Reema Lamba (1976-10-24) October 24, 1976 (age 40) Moth, Hisar district, Haryana, India
Nationality	India
Occupation	Actress, Model
Years active	2002–present
Website	Mallika Sherawat

Mallika Sherawat (born Reema Lamba on October 24, 1976) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi, English and Chinese language films. Known for her bold onscreen attitude in films like Khwahish (2003) and Murder (2004), Sherawat has established herself as a sex symbol and as one of the most popular celebrities in Bollywood. She then appeared in successful romantic comedy Pyaar Ke Side Effects (2006) which won her much critical acclaim.

Since then, she has appeared in successes like Aap Ka Suroor - The Real Love Story, Welcome (both 2007) — her biggest commercial success so far — and Double Dhamaal (2011). She is one of the few Bollywood stars trying to crossover to Hollywood, with films like Hisss (2010) and Politics of Love (2011).

Sherawat was born Reema Lamba in Moth, a small village in Hisar district of Haryana to a Jat family. Mallika's father is named Mukesh Kumar Lamba and she was born in the family of Seth Chhaju Ram, a leading Jat philanthropist. She was born on 24 October 1976. She adopted the screen name of "Mallika", meaning "empress", to avoid confusion with other actresses named Reema. "Sherawat" is her mother's maiden name She has stated that she uses her mother's maiden name because of the support that her mother has provided her.

Although relations with her family were strained when she entered the film industry, Sherawat's family have now accepted her career choice and they and Sherawat are reconciled.

Sherawat went to school at Delhi Public School, Mathura Road. She has a degree in philosophy from Miranda House, Delhi University. During the initial days of her career, she claimed to be from a very conservative small-town family and that she faced many hurdles from them in pursuing her career. However, Sherawat's family has rebutted this as a story created by her to give her an aura of a rustic girl who made it big in Bollywood.