Ileana D'Cruz (born 01 November 1985) is an Indian film actress, who predominantly appears in Telugu-language films and Tamil-language films. Starting her career as a model, she made her feature film debut in Y.V.S. Chowdhary's 2006 Telugu film Devadasu. She went on to appear in commercially successful ventures Pokiri (2006), Jalsa (2008) and Kick, establishing herself as one of Telugu cinema's leading actresses.
D'Cruz made her feature film debut in 2006 in the Telugu language romance film Devadasu, directed by Y. V. S. Chowdhary, who spotted her in a "Fair and Lovely" ad film directed by Rakesh Roshan.[2] Critics were in praise of her, particularly referring to her physique and looks; Jeevi of Idlebrain wrote that Ileana "makes a cool debut. She is good at histrionics and has a fabulous body any woman would love to possess. She has great legs and nice physique", while a review from Indiaglitz noted that she "has chiseled features and a figure to die-for." Devadasu, which also marks its lead actor Ram's acting debut, became the year's first major commercial success, eventually grossing around 
14 crores, whilst earning Ileana the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debutant. She next appeared opposite Mahesh Babu in the action flick Pokiri in which she portrayed an aerobics teacher, who is harassed by a corrupt police offer. The film was a huge financial success, emerging the highest-grossing Telugu film of all time until then, as well as Ileana's biggest commercial success so far.
14 crores, whilst earning Ileana the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debutant. She next appeared opposite Mahesh Babu in the action flick Pokiri in which she portrayed an aerobics teacher, who is harassed by a corrupt police offer. The film was a huge financial success, emerging the highest-grossing Telugu film of all time until then, as well as Ileana's biggest commercial success so far.Later that year, she made her Tamil-language film debut in Kedi (2006). Although the film did not do so well at the box-office, D'Cruz remained too busy to accept all the film roles offered to her. Her Telugu film Khatarnak (2006) in which she acted opposite Ravi Teja did not do as well as expected, which has been attributed to her glamorous appearance not going down well with the audience. She subsequently experienced a setback in her career as her following releases Rakhi (2006) and Munna (2007) proved critically and financially unsuccessful.
D'Cruz's career took a turn for the better with the release of her well-received 2007 film Aata, acting opposite Siddharth. She received favorable reviews for her performance as Satya, a college student who is on the run from the home minister's crooked son by whom she is targeted, when leading a protest and demanding punishment for his crimes. Idlebrain described her as "gorgeous" and a "treat to watch to the eyes". In 2008, she performed a lead role opposite Pawan Kalyan in Jalsa, directed by Trivikram Srinivas. In spite of opening to mixed reviews, the film turned out to become a high financial success. Ileana received largely positive remarks, with critics citing that she looked "pretty", "damn cool", and "every bit chic and stunning through out the film", while being later awarded the Santosham Award, one of five awards for Jalsa, and the South Scope Style Award, besides garnering a nomination for the Best Actress prize at the 56th Filmfare Awards South. Her first 2009 release, titled Kick, was likewise declared a box office success, becoming one of the highest-grossing films that year. Later that year she starred in the films Rechipo and Y. V. S. Choudary's Saleem alongside Vishnu Manchu, both of which performed poorly at the box office. Huduga Hudugi, her first Kannada film, became her only 2010 release; she performed an item number, "Ileana Ileana", in the film. Ileana just finished shooting for Shakti, where she plays next to Jr. NTR, which whom she worked earlier in Rakhi.
Ileana is currently shooting for Nenu Naa Rakshasi, which marks her second collaboration with Puri Jagannadh, following the success of Pokiri, and her second Tamil venture, S. Shankar's Nanban, a remake of the hugely successful and acclaimed 2009 Hindi film 3 Idiots, with Ileana essaying the character originally played by Kareena Kapoor. She would also make her Hindi debut with the Anurag Basu directorial Barfee, starring alongside Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra.
