Born on August 5, 1987, Genelia Deshmukh is an Indian actress and model who mostly works in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi films. Beginning her acting career with the film office smash Tujhe Meri Kasam in 2003, D’Souza gained widespread recognition after appearing in a Parker Pen advertisement alongside Amitabh Bachchan. In the same year, she received praise for her performance in Boys.

In 2008, Genelia D’Souza won critical praise for her roles in the Tamil adaptation of Bommarillu, Santosh Subramaniam, and the television series Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na. Apart from hosting Big Switch, D’Souza has performed in television shows and films.

D’Souza is a Catholic from Mangalore who was born in Mumbai. She grew up in the Mumbai area of Bandra. Jeanette D’Souza, her mother, had a managing director position at the Pharma Multinational Corporation. To support D’Souza in her profession, she quit her work in 2004. Neil D’Souza, her father, works for Tata Consultancy Services as a senior executive. Nigel D’Souza, her younger brother, is employed with the Bombay Stock Exchange.

After attending Bandra’s Apostolic Carmel High School, D’Souza enrolled at St. Andrew’s College to get her management studies bachelor’s degree. In 2003, she finished her degree while filming her debut movie, Tujhe Meri Kasam, and at first, she believed that working for an MNC would be a good fit.