Lisa Ray

Author | Actor | Humanitarian

Who am I

Cross-cultural phenomenon, Lisa Ray is an internationally acclaimed performer, author, columnist, television personality and public speaker with a reputation for taking on challenging issue-oriented films. Raised in Canada by an Indian father and Polish mother, Ray was discovered while on vacation in India at the age of 16 and went on to become not only one of the most successful and memorable cover models in India but also an acclaimed, award-winning actress who starred in Canada’s Oscar-nominated film, Water, amongst other prestigious credits like ‘The World Unseen’, ‘Bollywood/Hollywood’ and ‘Kasoor’ in Hindi cinema. 


Today Ray balances many professional and personal passions as a writer, a humanitarian, a wellness activist, a meditation and yoga proponent, an entrepreneur, an on-camera personality (Top Chef Canada) and a performer (AR Rahman’s 99 Songs, Amazon’s Four More Shots Please) whose multifaceted career spans three decades and several continents.


After Ray was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in mid-2009 her forthright, courageous and humorous approach to navigating her experiences with this incurable blood cancer which she chronicled in her blog, ‘The Yellow Diaries’ have earned her international respect. Despite living with an incurable disease, Ray has continued working with an added focus on increasing Cancer Awareness. Some of her recent noteworthy work includes – Being the honorary co-chair for Blood Services Canada, hosting the series Oh My Gold on Discovering Channel in India, taking on the role of host and judge for ‘Top Chef Canada’ being the face for a style campaign shot by Bryan Adams, lending her presence for numerous cancer documentaries and Cancer awareness initiatives for which she was honoured with a Diamond Jubilee Award for contributions to Canadian Society. Lisa was also the face of the Pantene Beautiful lengths campaign, encouraging hair donation for wigs for cancer patients, she conceptualised a special collection of sarees with Satya Paul called Ray of Hope and launched her own limited edition fragrance, ‘Jasmine of India’ with the 7 Virtues, a social enterprise based in Canada. Recently Lisa became the face of HDFC Cancer Care Campaign to spread cancer awareness, called Ray Of Hope.  Keeping her nomadic persona in mind was the reason that global luxury travel brand, Insight Vacations brought her on board as their official ambassador. She also is the international face of RADO watches, now in the 10th year of their successful association. After moving back to Asia, Lisa has recently taken on roles in films in India, including ‘Veerappan’ and ‘Zahhak’ and was most recently seen in a highly well-received stage production, co-starring with Kabir Bedi called Taj, written by John Murrel, one of Canada’s most celebrated playwrights. She will be seen in A.R. Rahman’s upcoming film ’99 Songs’ and the second season of the hit Amazon Original Series ‘4 Shots More Please’. She participated as a celebrity panelist in the prestigious CBC show ‘Canada Reads’ in early 2019. She continues to travel extensively for speaking engagements, motivational talks and humanitarian causes. She is a contributing editor for Harper’s Bazaar India and has published articles in Mint, Travel and Leisure, Elle India, Vogue India and wrote a column for DNA India tackling taboo issues in a compassionate and humorous way. Her best selling writing debut, Close to the Bone, a frank and intimate memoir exploring the geography of healing, has been highly acclaimed. She recently signed a deal with her publisher Harper Collins, to write three more books. 


In 2018, Lisa publicly announced the birth of her twin daughters via surrogacy, in order to normalise fertility options for others. She divides her time between Mumbai, Singapore and the world.

 

 

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