Top Actresses of Foreign Origin in Bollywood

The trend, in recent years, of casting actresses and models from some of the more exotic countries from around the world has been steadily increasing.

Spurred by the wildly successful career of Bollywood's British-Indian import, Katrina Kaif, others like Mexican actress Barbara Mori and Australian-Indian model Lisa Haydon have taken to the silver screen, welcomed by a number of filmmakers and producers looking to spice up their films with fresh faces and new talent.

Check out the slideshow below to catch a glimpse of some of the more popular foreign actresses in Bollywood:

Katrina, who made her Bollywood bow in Kaizad Gustad’s “Boom” (2003), has come a long way. The British-Indian former model has seen wildly successful commercial success, courtesy roles in “Namastey London” (2007), “Welcome” (2007), “New York” (2009) and “Rajneeti” (2010). In addition, she has also appeared in two Telugu films and one Malayalam film.

Barbara Mori, a Mexican model and actress, made her Bollywood debut in Anurag Basu’s “Kites” (2010), opposite Hrithik Roshan. Although she hasn’t appeared in any other Bollywood production since then, she remains something of a favourite in B-town.

Jacqueline Fernandez is a former Miss Sri Lanka (2006) and made her Bollywood debut in Sujoy Ghosh’s “Aladin” (2009). Her performance in the film won her an IIFA Award for the Star Debut of the Year (Female) and the Max Stardust Award for Exciting New Face. She was most recently seen in “Murder 2” and will also be seen in “Houseful 2”, “Razz 3D” and “Race 2”.

Lisa Marie Haydon is an Australian-Indian model-turned-actress who was born in Chennai and has lived in both Australia and the United States. She started her modeling career in Australia and her first Bollywood film was Rajshree Ojha’s “Aisha” (2010). She was most recently seen in “Rascal” (2011).

The Czech model and actress, in many ways, started the “item girl” craze in Bollywood today, with her now iconic cameo in E. Niwaz’s “Dum” (2003) – she appeared in a song sequence for “Babuji Zara Dheere Chalo”. She has since appeared in a number of other Bollywood films, either in specific song sequences or in cameo roles. She has also worked in the Telugu and Tamil film industries.