Geek Babes

Aishwarya Rai

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:08:00 GMT

Aishwarya Rai, born November 1, 1973, is an Indian actress. She worked as a model before acting and gained fame after winning the Miss World contest in 1994.

Rai made her movie debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film, Iruvar, in 1997. She had her first commercial success in the Tamil movie Jeans, and came to the attention of Bollywood in the Hindi movie, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, where her performance won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award. She successfully performed in Bhansali's next project, Devdas, in 2002, for which she won her second Best Actress Award at the Filmfare. Since then, she'as acted in over forty movies, including the international productions, Bride & Prejudice, Mistress of Spices and The Last Legion (which earned her this pretigious spot on the GeekBabes Blog.).

Aishwarya Rai was born in Mangalore to Krishnaraj Rai, a marine biologist, and Vrinda Rai, a writer. She has an older brother. After she was born, her family moved to Mumbai where she attended the Arya Vidya Mandir high school in Santa Cruz. Rai then entered Jai Hind College at Churchgate for a year and then moved to Ruparel College in Matunga to finish her studies. She did well in school and planned to become an architect.

Aishwarya speaks several languages, including Tulu, Hindi, English, Marathi, Tamil, and Bengali. While studying architecture, Rai began modeling on the side. In the 1994 Miss India contest, she won the second and went on to win the Miss World title the same year. She abandoned her studies after winning the pageant and spent a year reigning as Miss World in London. Aishwarya started working as a professional model and from there moved on to acting.

In 2002, Rai appeared alongside Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Sanjay Leela Bansali's Devdas. The film attracted overseas attention, receiving a special screening at Cannes. It was during this time that she garnered the attention of the West as an Indian actress and went on to appear in a few Hollywood projects. Devdas went on to become the highest grossing film of the year both in India and overseas, earning the actress her second Filmfare Best Actress Award.

As she gained popularity, she was chosen by Time magazine in 2004 as one of the World's "100 Most Influential People". She appeared on the cover of Time magazine, Asia Edition in 2003 and was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile. Aishwarya also appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and was also featured on Oprah's "Women Across the Globe" segment.

In October 2004, her first foreign film, Bride and Prejudice released. The film was an Indian version of Jane Austen's classic novel Pride and Prejudice. Her next overseas venture was The Mistress of Spices.

In 2005, Rai signed a three-year contract with L'Oréal to be a spokesmodel. At the end of the year 2006, she had two releases: Umrao Jaan and Dhoom 2. While the former did poorly in India, her role in the latter, which was a sequel to the 2004 hit movie Dhoom brought her great attention. The film went on to become the biggest hit of the year, and sparked a controversy for a scene containing a kiss between her and Hrithik Roshan.

2007 saw the release of Mani Ratnam's Guru which premiered in Toronto. The film, based on the life of Indian businessman Dhirubhai Ambani, was critically acclaimed and did well at the box office. Her most recent film, Provoked, based on the book "Circle of Light" where she portrays a real life character, was released on April 6, 2007 in India and the UK.

At the end of April 2007, her first American film, The Last Legion released in Russia and the Netherlands and later opened in North American theaters. In 2008 she starred alongside Hrithik Roshan in Ashutosh Gowariker's historical drama Jodhaa Akbar. She played the role of Jodha Bai, the wife of the Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar, played by Roshan. Aishwarya will now be seen in Sarkar Raj which costars husband Abhishek Bachchan and her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan.

GeekBabe Rating

Lexa Doig

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 12:13:00 GMT

Alexandra Doig, who goes by the nickname 'Lexa', was born June 8th, 1973 in Don Mills, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Lexa's mother is Filipino, while her father is Irish/Scottish. From the time she wrote and directed her first play at the age of six, she knew she wanted to become an actress.

Though Lexa grew up in a home where they watched a lot of "Star Trek," her parents also regularly took her to see plays at the local theater. Young Lexa was especially entertained with the musicals "Porgy and Bess" and "Evita." She decided she wanted to be Porgy, as she identified with him because he was the smallest one on stage. Lexa herself is only five-foot-six.

She dropped out of high school in grade 13, did modeling and commercial work, and got her first on-camera job in 1991 as cohost of "Video & Arcade Top 10", a Canadian TV show where kids competed against each other by playing video games. She hosted the show Gordon Michael Woolvett, who became her co-star on "Andromeda" some 10 years later. In 1994, Lexa landed her first professional acting job at age 19 in "TekWar", a TV series based on William Shatner's novels. Since then, Lexa has stared and guest-stared in dozens of science fiction television shows and movies, professing to be a self-labeled science fiction nerd and huge fan of Star Trek.

She went on to appear in several projects for both the big and small screens, including "CI5: The New Professionals", Jungleground and No Alibi, before becoming a regular on the hugely popular Sci-Fi series "Andromeda", where she apeared as the computer generated avatar and sometimes android representing the spaceship Andromeda. "Andromeda" was on air for 5 seasons before it ended in May of 2005.

"Jason X", the tenth film in the Friday The 13th horror movies, was released in summer 2001. Lexa played the female lead and heroine, Dr. Rowan, leader of the research project that was studying Jason. The film was produced just before the start of the first season of "Andromeda." She co-starred with now close friend Lisa Ryder, who later co-starred with Lexa in "Andromeda".

In August 2003, Lexa married actor Michael Shanks. Around one year after their marriage in September 2004, their first daughter was born. They recently celebrated the birth of their second child together, a boy born in March 2006. They live in Canada, dividing their time between Vancouver and Toronto.

Lexa is currently taking a break from her role as Dr. Carolyn Lam on the hit Sci-Fi series "Stargate SG-1", to spend more time with her children. In her spare time, Lexa enjoys reading, rollerblading and playing RPG video games. She is a prolific internet surfer and a huge "Dungeons and Dragons" fan.

Interesting Factoids

Studied American Sign Language as a teenager.
Met her husband Michael Shanks, when he guest-starred in the "Andromeda" Season One episode "Star-Crossed"
Appeared in Jason X alongside her "Andromeda" co-star Lisa Ryder. In the film, Doig played a human and Ryder played an android while on "Andromeda", the opposite is true.
Dropped out of high school in grade 13
Was a rhythmic gymnast as a child

GeekBabe Rating

Keira Knightley

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:34:00 GMT

I know a lot of guys look at her and think 'skin and bones', but Keira Knightley is a beautiful woman. She hasn't been around too long; she made her feature debut as Natalie Portman's Queen Amidala double in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. Anyone who can double for Natalie Portman is OK in any geek-boy's book.

Keira Christina Knightley was born in London March 26th 1985. She's the daughter of actor Will Knightley and actress turned playwright Sharman Macdonald. Raised in the acting profession from both sides - writing and performing - it's no wonder she ended up oin front of the camera herself. Her first TV role came in 1993 when she was only seven.

Although she was seen in numerous British TV productions, the first time Keira's name was mentioned internationally was when it was revealed she played Natalie Portman's decoy Padme to Portman's Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. She filmed her first title role in Disney's Princess of Thieves in 2001, where in which she played the role of Robin Hood's daughter Gwyn.

In 2002, Bend It Like Beckham became a smash hit in Britain. The story of a drug-addicted waitress and her friendship with the young son of a drug-addict, Pure (2002), occupied Keira from January to March 2002. Also at this time, Keira's first attempt at Shakespeare was filmed. She played Helena in a modern interpretation of a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream entitled The Seasons Alter.

It was a chance encounter with producer Andy Harries at the London premiere of Bridget Jones's Diary which decided Keira to leave her studies and pursue acting full-time. Kiera auditioned for and won the part of Larisa Feodorovna Guishar, the heroine of Boris Pasternak's novel "Doctor Zhivago". The mini-series was filmed throughout the spring of 2002 in Slovakia, co-starring Sam Neill and Hans Matheson as Yuri Zhivago.

Auditions were held in London for a new blockbuster movie called Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, but heavy traffic in the city forced Keira to be tagged on to the end of the day's auditions list; she got the part. It was perhaps no surprise, then, that Keira was on producer Jerry Bruckheimer's wanted list for the part of Guinevere in a planned accurate telling of the legend of King Arthur. Filming took place in Ireland and Wales from June to November 2003. In July Keira had become celebrity face of British jeweller and luxury goods retailer Asprey.

At a photoshoot for the company on Long Island New York in August Keira met and fell in love with Northern Irish model Jamie Dornan. King Arthur was released in July 2004 to lukewarm reviews. Even so, Keira became the breakout star.

In October 2004, Keira received her first major accolade, the Hollywood Film Award for Best Breakthrough Actor - Female. The remainder of 2004 saw Keira once again trying a completely new genre, this time the part-fact, part-fiction life story of model turned bounty hunter Domino (2005). Her pre-contracted sequel clause from the original Pirates movie meant the production of not one, but two sequels; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Interesting Factoids

The similarity between Knightley and Natalie Portman meant that during the filming of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), their own mothers could not tell them apart once in makeup.
Has dyslexia. She had to wear special glasses in adolescence to help her read.
She did her first topless scene at the age of 15, in The Hole (2001), whilst the film was released in 2001 it was filmed in 2000. For legal reasons due to her age her mother had to agree and the set was closed.