One of eight siblings, Katrina Kaif was born to a Kashmiri father and English mother. She was brought up in Hawaii, and started modeling by accident at the age of 14, when she was approached for a jewelery campaign. After that she continued modeling in London.
Filmmaker Kaizad Gustad discovered Katrina in London and gave her a part in his film Boom. It wasn't long before the acting bug bit Katrina who decided to take it up full time and move permanently to Mumbai. With her attractive features, Katrina was offered a number of modeling assignments. However, filmmakers were at first hesitant to sign her because of her linguistic shortcomings, such as her inability to speak Hindi. Films that did feature her usually had her voice dubbed over by a native speaker of the film's language. This changed with the film, Namastey London, in which she dubbed her own lines
