Katrina Kaif (pronounced [kəˈʈriːna kɛːf]; born Katrina Rosemary Turcotte, 16 July 1983) is a British actress and businesswoman who works in Hindi-language films. One of India's highest-paid actresses, her accolades include four Screen Awards and four Zee Cine Awards, alongside three Filmfare Awards nominations. Although critical reception to her acting has varied, she is noted for her roles in action films and her dancing ability.
Born in British Hong Kong, Kaif lived in several countries before moving to London, where she spent three years. She received her first modelling assignment as a teenager and later pursued a career in fashion modelling. At a fashion show in London, Indian filmmaker Kaizad Gustad cast her in Boom (2003), which was a critical and commercial failure. While Kaif established a successful modelling career in India, she initially faced difficulty securing film roles due to her limited command of Hindi. After appearing in the Telugu film Malliswari (2004), Kaif achieved commercial success in Bollywood with the romantic comedies Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya? (2005) and Namastey London (2007). Further success followed with a series of box-office hits, though she was criticised for her acting, repetitive roles, and preference for male-dominated films.
Kaif's performances in the thriller New York (2009) and the romantic comedy Mere Brother Ki Dulhan (2011) were better received, earning her nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Her career progressed with roles in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (2009), Raajneeti (2010), and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011). She found major commercial success in the action thrillers Ek Tha Tiger (2012), Dhoom 3 (2013), and Bang Bang! (2014), which ranked among the highest-grossing Indian films of that decade. Following a brief setback, the action films Tiger Zinda Hai (2017), Sooryavanshi (2021), and Tiger 3 (2023), along with the drama Bharat (2019), emerged as box-office hits. Kaif's portrayal of an alcoholic actress in the romantic drama Zero (2018) earned her the Zee Cine Award for Best Supporting Actress and her performance in the mystery thriller Merry Christmas (2024) was well-received.
In the media, Kaif frequently appears in listings of India’s most popular and attractive celebrities. Kaif was featured consistently in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list consistently in the 2010s. A regular brand endorser, she launched her cosmetic line Kay Beauty in 2019. She participates in stage shows and is involved with her mother’s charity, Relief Projects India, which helps underprivileged children. Kaif is married to actor Vicky Kaushal, with whom she has a son.
Kaif was born in British Hong Kong with her mother's surname Turcotte (also spelt Turquotte), on 16 July 1983. Her father is of Kashmiri descent, and her mother, Suzanne (also spelt Susanna), is an English lawyer and charity worker. She has seven siblings; three older sisters and three younger sisters and one elder brother. Kaif's parents divorced when she was a child, and as her mother is a social activist, the family relocated to a number of countries for varying lengths of time. Therefore, Kaif and her siblings were home-schooled by a series of tutors. She said:Our transitions in growing up were—from Hong Kong where I was born, to China, then to Japan, and from Japan by boat to France ... After France, Switzerland—and I'm cutting out many East European countries where we were for only a few months each—then Poland in Kraków ... After that we went to Belgium, then to Hawaii, which was a short time, and then came to London.
She said her father Mohammad Kaif, is a businessman in the United States, who is not in touch with them. She said he had no influence on her or her siblings while they were growing up, and that they were raised by their mother.
Kaif's paternal parentage has been questioned by some members of the film industry. In a 2011 interview with Mumbai Mirror, Boom producer Ayesha Shroff accused Kaif of fabricating her history: "We created an identity for her. She was this pretty young English girl, and we gave her the Kashmiri father and thought of calling her Katrina Kazi. We thought we'd give her some kind of Indian ancestry, to connect with the audience ... But then we thought that Kazi sounded too... religious? ... Mohammad Kaif was at the top, and so we said, Katrina Kaif sounds really great." Kaif denied this, calling Shroff's comments "hurtful".
Kaif lived in London for three years before moving to India. At age 14, Kaif won a beauty contest in Hawaii, and received her first modelling assignment in a jewellery campaign. She subsequently modelled professionally in London, working for freelance agencies and appearing regularly at the London Fashion Week. During this period, she visited India for the first time after an Asian friend suggested they take a trip there.
At a fashion show Kaif attracted the attention of London-based filmmaker Kaizad Gustad. She made her acting debut in Gustad's Hindi-English heist film Boom starring Amitabh Bachchan, Gulshan Grover, Jackie Shroff, Madhu Sapre and Padma Lakshmi. While filming in India, Kaif received other offers and decided to stay in the country; she then changed her surname to her father's because she thought it would be easier to pronounce. She was noticed as a model after walking the ramp for Rohit Bal at the India Fashion Week and appeared in the first Kingfisher Calendar. After endorsing such brands as Coca-Cola, LG, Fevicol and Samsung, Kaif soon established a successful modelling career in India.
Boom (2003) had its first screening at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was heavily promoted, but emerged as a commercial and critical failure. Kaif's portrayal of a supermodel ensnared in the Mumbai underworld was poorly received; Ziya Us Salam of The Hindu wrote of the weak performances by Kaif and the other female stars, criticising their inexpressiveness. She later dismissed Boom as an unimportant part of her career, ascribing her choice to her unawareness of Indian audiences' film taste then. Hindustan Times reported that after Boom's release, Kaif was written off due to her poor Hindi and thick British accent; as a result, filmmakers were hesitant in casting her in their films. Kaif soon began working on her diction through Hindi classes. In 2003, director Mahesh Bhatt replaced Kaif with Tara Sharma in Saaya as he found Kaif's acting on set subpar compared to her audition for the role.
After the failure of her first Bollywood project, Kaif appeared in the Telugu film Malliswari (2004), in which she played the title role of a princess forced to flee from her murderous caretaker. Kaif received a reported salary of ₹7.5 million (US$79,000) for the film, the highest for a female lead at the time in South Indian cinema; Sify attributed this achievement to her looks and figure. Despite negative reviews for her acting, she was nominated for a Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu and received several film offers afterwards. Malliswari was a profitable venture. In 2005, Kaif appeared briefly as Abhishek Bachchan's girlfriend in Ram Gopal Varma's political thriller Sarkar. She next featured alongside Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen and Sohail Khan in Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?, a film she considered her "first real step into Bollywood". Directed by David Dhawan, the film was a successful remake of the romantic comedy Cactus Flower. For her role as a suicidal model, Kaif received the Stardust Award for Breakthrough Performance – Female. According to Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com, "Katrina's Disney princess-like charm adds to her adorable screen presence". Kaif followed with her second Telugu film, Allari Pidugu, in which she had "very little role to play and shake a leg or two with the hero", according to a critic from The Hindu.
In 2006, she appeared in Raj Kanwar's unsuccessful Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, which marked the first of her frequent collaborations with costar Akshay Kumar. It tells the story of two like-minded strangers who fall in love despite being engaged to others. A Sify critic wrote that Kaif was "passably competent in a tailor-made role, giving a mild emotional spin to a couple of scenes" but was overshadowed by her supporting actresses. The same year, Kaif played an actress with Mammootty in the Malayalam crime thriller Balram vs. Tharadas.