Born on May 30, 1985, Jennifer Winget is a half-Punjabi and half-Maharashtrian Christian and she was born and raised in Mumbai. The actress started her acting career at age 10. Did you know she made her acting debut with Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala's Akele Hum Akele Tum? (All photos/Jennifer Winget's official Instagram account)
In 1997, Jennifer Winget starred in Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat, the film which marked the Bollywood debut of Rani Mukerji. Jennifer played the character of a school kid in the film.
Later in 2000, Jennifer played the role of little Tanu in Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala-starrer Raja Ko Rani Se Pyar Ho Gaya.
In 2003, Jennifer Winget played Abhishek Bachchan's on-screen cousin Pooja in Kuch Naa Kaho, which starred Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as the female lead.
Having started her career as a child artiste in films like Akele Hum Akele Tum and Kuch Naa Kaho, it was the world of television which made Jennifer a popular face.
Jennifer Winget was 19 when she starred in the TV show Karthika, where she played the titular character.
Later, in 2008, she starred in Ekta Kapoor's popular daily soap Kasautii Zindagii Kay, where she played Sneha, the daughter of the protagonists - Anurag and Prerna.
She went on to appear in various TV shows such as Kyaa Hoga Nimmo Kaa, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, Kahin To Hoga, Sangam, and Jennifer Winget gained huge popularity as Dr. Riddhima Gupta in 2009's Dill Mill Gayye. She was set to re-enter Bollywood with Kunal Kohli's Phir Se in 2015 but due to copyright issues, the film's release date kept getting pushed. It was finally released on a digital platform in 2019.
While on the personal front, Jennifer Winget went through a low phase, she gained success on the professional front with the 2016 show Beyhadh, where she played Maya, who is obsessed with her husband. The show saw her in a negative role for the first time, and it soon became popular. The show's second season was out in December 2019. Beyhadh 2 featured Jennifer as Maya, along with actors Shivin Narang and Ashish Choudhary.
Talking about her fitness game, Jennifer Winget, who is in her 30s now, has been practising yoga for many years, and has benefitted from the holistic healing practice. "I don't focus on any particular part of the body," she shares.
Jennifer Winget thanks her metabolism for keeping her in good shape, but that doesn't keep her from watching her meals. "You need to be careful about not overdoing anything, whether eating or exercising," says Winget, pointing out that despite her high metabolism, she too can't escape the extra pounds.
Jennifer Winget says she will accept age gracefully. Sexy, fashionable and trendy are some of the words used to describe Winget. But she says there is no pressure on her to look good all the time and she is willing to accept her age gracefully. It wasn't long ago when she won a spot in the "50 Sexiest Asian Women" list.
When asked if she feels the pressure, she said, "There is no pressure. I am who I am. I do what I do. All the credit goes to my team... my stylist and make-up people... my entire team that works tirelessly to make me look good."
Jennifer Winget has more than 12M followers on Instagram. With this, the actress becomes one of the highest followed television celebrities in India, along with Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya. Incidentally, there are other TV celebs such as Kapil Sharma and Mouni Roy who are ahead of Jennifer, but these celebrities notably also have a sufficient presence in Bollywood.
Jennifer has lately impressed fans with her performance as Maya Mehrotra in Beyhadh 2. In fact, her role of Maya, across two seasons since 2016, was been a major reason for her soaring popularity.
Her other popular performances on the small screen are Kumud Desai in Saraswatichandra and Zoya Siddiqui in Bepannah.
Her role on the show is winning applauds for its grey shades, but Jennifer insists she does not like to categorise her characters as good, bad or ugly. "I don't like terms like negative character, positive or grey character. I think we are actors and it is beautiful to play all types of roles. It is more beautiful to play complex roles. I was not at all sceptical when I came on board for 'Beyhadh'. Many people ask me how it feels to play a negative character. Honestly, I don't like such term. It is a fictional character, and we are telling a story about one character. There is neither hero nor villain in the show. 'Beyhadh' is very close to my heart and the entire journey season one onward has been out of the box. There was no doubt in my mind while reprising the character of Maya," Jennifer told IANS.
Apart from making waves in the television industry, Jennifer made her digital debut with ALTBalaji's Code M. She played an Army Officer. However, the show got a lukewarm response from the audience. "I want to do all kinds of roles and with 'Code M', I got the chance to try out action. Also, coming back to Balaji is like coming back to my family. Ekta Kapoor is a fantastic person and when you work with such people it always feels great," she said.
Sharing her experience working on the OTT medium, Jennifer emphasised projects rather than the medium were important. "For me what matters is the project. I believe in doing good work, and while working in the web medium I did not feel out of place at all," said Jennifer.
Here's wishing a very happy birthday to Jennifer Winget! May you achieve greater heights in your life.
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