Erica Jennifer Fernandes (born 7 May 1993) is an Indian actress and former model known for her work in television. She has featured in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, Telugu and

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

films. Fernandes made her debut in Tamil film '' Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu''. She got her breakthrough with her television debut, portraying Dr. Sonakshi Bose in '' Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi''. She has also acted in Kannada film '' Ninnindale'' and many Tamil films including '' Galipatam''. Fernandes is also known for her portrayal of Prerna Sharma in '' Kasautii Zindagii Kay''.

Early life

Erica Jennifer Fernandes was born on 7th May 1993 in

Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...

to Ralph Fernandes and Lavina Fernandes, in a Mangalorean Catholic

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

family and later shifted to Mumbai. She did her schooling from Holy Cross High School, Kurla and completed her Pre-Degree Course from Sies College Of Arts, Science & Commerce, Sion. She had enrolled for a BA degree from St Andrew's College, Bandra. Later she discontinued her studies to pursue a career in modelling.

Career

Modelling career

She always aspired to be a model since childhood, which earned her the crown of "Bombay Times Fresh Face", "Pantaloons Femina Miss Fresh Face 2011" and "Pantaloons Femina Miss Maharashtra" in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Film debut and success (2013–2015)

Director Sasi had seen pictures of her at Meera Kathiravan's office, with whom she was shooting another film, when he was casting for '' Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu''. Sasi offered her a role of a software engineer in the film alongside Bharath, who plays her love interest. Due to the delay of her other films, ''Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu'' became her first release. In 2014, she made her debut in

with the film '' Ninnindale'', featuring alongside

Puneeth Rajkumar Dr. Puneeth Rajkumar (17 March 1975 – 29 October 2021), affectionately known as Appu (by his fans, after his first lead role in the movie Appu (2002 film), ''Appu''), was an Indian actor, playback singer, film producer, television presenter a ...

, which was followed by her debut Hindi film, '' Babloo Happy Hai'', directed by Nila Madhab Panda. She was selected to play the lead role in the Tamil film '' Virattu'', featuring newcomer Sujiv, son of the director Kumar. In February 2014, ''Virattu'' eventually released. '' Galipatam'' became her first Telugu release. The film received decent reviews from critics, who also noted that Erica "does a good job" and "shows maturity". In 2015, she appeared in the Kannada film '' Buguri''.

Television debut, breakthrough and success (2016–2020)

In 2016, Fernandes made her television debut with Sony TV's '' Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi'' where she portrayed Dr. Sonakshi Bose, opposite

Shaheer Sheikh Shaheer Nawaz Sheikh (born 26 March 1984) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Hindi television. Considered as one of the highest paid television actor in India, Sheikh is a recipient of several accolades including an ITA Award, an ...

. The show was a new age show and her onscreen chemistry with

was appreciated. Her delayed film with Kathiravan, '' Vizhithiru'', released on 6 October 2017 and saw her feature among an ensemble cast including

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

Venkat Prabhu Venkat Kumar Gangai Amaren (born 7 November 1975), better known by his stage name Venkat Prabhu, is an Indian film director, actor and playback singer in Tamil cinema. In addition, he also worked in Telugu cinema, Telugu Cinema. After completing ...

and Sara Arjun. From 2018 to 2020, she portrayed Prerna Sharma in

StarPlus StarPlus is an Indian Hindi-language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. Its programming consists of family dramas, romantic comedies, youth-oriented realit ...

's '' Kasautii Zindagii Kay'', opposite

Parth Samthaan Parth Laghate (born 11 March 1991) known professionally as Parth Samthaan is an Indian actor. He began his acting career by starring in '' Gumrah: End of Innocence'' as Siddharth and '' Best Friends Forever?'' as Prithvi Sanyal in the same year ...

Recent work

In 2021, Fernandes reprised her role of Dr. Sonakshi Bose opposite

in the third season of '' Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi: Nayi Kahaani''. She is currently hosting Emirates Draw. a game show in Dubai, which is live streamed across Emirates Draw's digital platforms YouTube, Facebook, and Website. In 2023, Erica played the role of Moushmi in an Amazon Mini TV horror film The Haunting.

Media

In 2017, Fernandes was ranked fourth in ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

''s Most Desirable Women on Indian Television List. She was also listed third in ''

''s Most Desirable Women on Indian Television List 2018. In the same year, '' Times'' ranked her 8th in the ''Top 10 Popular Actress'' in Television. Fernandes was placed 13th in '' Eastern Eye''s 50 Sexiest Asian Women of 2019 List and fourth in ''The Times of India''s Most Desirable Women On Television List 2019. Fernandes was ranked first in The Times Most Desirable Women on TV 2020.

Filmography

Films

Television

Web series

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandes, Erica Living people 1993 births Female models from Mumbai Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses from Mumbai Actresses in Telugu cinema 21st-century Indian actresses Indian Christians Indian film actresses Mangalorean Catholics Mangaloreans Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Hindi television Indian television actresses St. Andrew's College of Arts, Science and Commerce alumni