Mandana Karimi (born Manizeh Karimi; on 19 May 1988) is an Iranian actress and model based in India. After working on several successful modelling projects around the world, she appeared as a lead in the

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film, ''

Bhaag Johnny ''Bhaag Johnny'' () is a 2015 Indian Hindi language Bollywood thriller film directed by Shivam Nair, and produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Vikram Bhatt and Ajay Kapoor. The film stars Kunal Khemu, Mandana Karimi and Zoa Morani in lea ...

''. She participated in the popular reality TV show, '' Bigg Boss 9'' and became the 2nd runner up in 2015.

Early life

Karimi was born on 19 May 1988 in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, Iran, into a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

family. Her father has Iranian and Indian ancestry and her mother is a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. She was raised in Tehran.

Career

Karimi started her career as an

air hostess A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are primar ...

, and later quit that job to pursue a career in modelling. In 2010, after working on various international modelling projects, she came to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

for three months on a modelling contract. Karimi has done TV commercials with

Shahrukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. Referred to in the media as the " Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood" ...

Saif Ali Khan Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Khan ma ...

Kareena Kapoor Kareena Kapoor Khan (; ''née'' Kapoor; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress who appears in Bollywood, Hindi films. She is the daughter of actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita, and the younger sister of actress Karisma Kapoor. Noted for pl ...

Shahid Kapoor Shahid Kapoor (; born 25 February 1981) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. Initially recognised for portraying romantic roles, he has since taken on parts in action films and thrillers, and is the recipient of several awards, inc ...

and

Arjun Kapoor Arjun Kapoor (born 26 June 1985) is an Indian actor working in Hindi films. Born to the Surinder Kapoor family, he is the son of film producer Boney Kapoor and Mona Shourie. Kapoor made his acting debut in 2012 with romance '' Ishaqzaade'' whic ...

. In February 2015, she made a guest appearance in the film ''

Roy Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...

''. Later that year, in September, her movie ''

'' was released. She also appeared in the October 2015 film, ''

Main Aur Charles ''Main aur Charles'' () is a 2015 Bollywood crime film written and directed by Prawaal Raman and produced by Cynozure Networkz. The film is a fictitious thriller inspired by true events; it is told from the perspective of the Indian cop, Amod K ...

'', where she played the role of Charles Sobraj's assistant. Karimi's next film, ''

Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3 ''Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3'' () is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language adult comedy film starring Tusshar Kapoor, Aftab Shivdasani and Mandana Karimi in lead roles along with Gizele Thakral, Claudia Ciesla, Krishna Abhishek, Shakti Kapoor, Darshan Jariwa ...

'', a

sex comedy Sex comedy, erotic comedy or more broadly sexual comedy is a genre in which comedy is motivated by sexual situations and love affairs. Although "sex comedy" is primarily a description of dramatic forms such as theatre and film, literary works such ...

, was released on 22 January 2016. Karimi was a contestant in the reality TV show, '' Bigg Boss 9'', where a group of celebrities from various walks of life live together in a large house. One of the contestants is eliminated every week, based on public votes. The show went on air in October 2015 on Colors. She was one of the three finalists of the season and ended up as a runner-up. In 2018, she joined

Star Plus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly ''Star India''), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. The network's programming consists of family dramas, comedies, ...

's ''

Ishqbaaaz ''Ishqbaaaz'' ()(international title :Game of love ) is an Indian romantic drama television series that aired from 27 June 2016 to 15 March 2019 on Star Plus. It initially starred Nakuul Mehta, Surbhi Chandna, Kunal Jaisingh, Shrenu Parikh, ...

'' as Nancy. In October 2018, Karimi accused Umesh Ghadge the director of ''

'' of sexual harassment. Mandana participated in an Indian TV reality show called ''Lock-Upp''.

Personal life

Karimi speaks

, English and

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

. In July 2016, Karimi got engaged to her boyfriend, Gaurav Gupta, an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

businessman from Mumbai. The couple married in court in early March the following year, which was followed by a lavish Hindu wedding in March 2017. In July 2017, Karimi filed a domestic violence case against her husband and his family, which she later withdrew in hopes of saving her marriage. They got divorced in 2021.

Filmography

Films

Television

Web series

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karimi, Mandana Living people 1988 births People from Tehran Iranian film actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Iranian diaspora film people Iranian female models Iranian television actresses Iranian expatriates in India Expatriate actresses in India Iranian people of Indian descent Iranian emigrants to India Violence against women in India Bigg Boss (Hindi TV series) contestants Iranian former Muslims Converts to Hinduism from Islam