Indian actress, UN Equality Champion, brand ambassador, humanitarian, Animal rights/human rights activist and writer. Internationally recognized as a film and beauty icon, Celina Jaitly has also been the winner of the coveted title of Miss India and Miss Universe runner-up, PETA humanitarian award and honored by the government of Egypt for her support towards promoting culture and tourism.

EARLY LIFE

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Celina Jaitly was born on 24 November 1981 in Shimla to V.K. Jaitly, a retired Indian Army Colonel from Punjab, India and Meeta (an Afghan) who is a psychologist by profession. She has one brother, who is currently serving the Indian Army Special Forces. Her parents are settled in the Army town of “Mhow”  in the Indore district of Madhya Pradesh.

Due to her army background, Jaitly grew up in several cities in India, like Lucknow, where she attended City Montessori School. However most of her life was spent in the Kashmir valley and the north eastern states of India. She has, however, spent most of her later teenage years in Kolkata, India.

She changed 13 different schools due to the nature of her father’s profession and studied mainly in the following schools:

  • Canossa Convent Ranikhet
  • Army Public Schools Udhampur (J&K)
  • City Montessori School (Lucknow)
  • Kendriya Vidyalaya (Nation wide)

During her teenage years, Jaitly aspired to be a part of the Indian army, either as a doctor or a pilot. However, she started modeling alongside studies at the age of 16. Celina took part in the 2001 Ms India pageant. She won the crown and then went on to become a runner up at Ms Universe the same year.

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CAREER
After winning Ms India/Ms Universe runner up position, Celina was a MTV India VJ before she went on to become a filmstar. In 2001, she featured in Jazzy Bs music video of ”Oh Kehri”, which was immensely popular .

Already famous for her beautiful eye’s and an individual unique flare for style, Celina made her debut with legendary director/actor Feroz Khans “Janasheen” and ever since has been the queen of hearts through many wonderful Hindi, English, Telugu & Kannada films. She established her self as a comedy queen through her superhit comedy films like “No-Entry“,”Golmaal Returns“,”Apna sapna money-Money” and many more. She also featured in the super hit video of the Bombay Vikings a song made for her beautiful eyes “Zara nazron se kehdo ji” in 2007.

Celina is a brand ambassador for many brands worldwide and as been the darling face of some of the most beautiful ad campaigns ever seen in the Eastern Hemisphere. Celina is also the tourism ambassador for the Arab republic of Egypt to India since 2006 and was recently honored by governor of Luxor for her contribution to tourism of Luxor city in Egypt.

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Celina also became one of the youngest actors to become a jury member of the esteemed Cairo international film festival.

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BRAND ENDORSMENTS:
Sepang Circuit malaysia 2002
Ayur (ayurvedic hair shampoos) 2002-2004
Ponds (Dreamflower talc) 2001-2004
Margo (skin soap) 2001-2003
Gitanjali (Diamond jewels) 2003-till present
Jashn (Leading Indian apparels) 2006- till present
Proactv (International skin solutions) 2008-till present
RICHFEEL (trichology clinics) 2012-till present
18 Again (women’s intimate care) 2012-till present
PETA 2005-till present
United Nations Equality Champion 2013- till present

ACTIVISM:
Besides cinema, Celina has devoted most of her time to LGBT issues in India and has been a vociferous human rights activist for the LGBT community. She played an important role in bringing to the public eye the reason why Section 377, which criminalized homosexual activities in India, should be abolished, despite cultural objections and threats to her life.The law has now been revoked in India and Celina Jaitly focuses her boundless energy on her quest for equality of sexual minorities in India.

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Celina became the first Indian to become a United Nations Equality champion for its FREE & EQUAL Campaign on 26th july along with international celebrities like Ryan and Macklemore, including musician Ricky Martin, South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho, and Brazilian singer Daniela Mercury. The Free & Equal campaign was conceived and developed by the UN Human Rights Office and is implemented in partnership with the Purpose Foundation—a non-profit organization that develops global social-media driven campaigns on human rights issues.

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Her aim as a social entrepreneur with an innate cultural understanding and acumen for change is to spread her message to the world “Giving people their rights does not in any way diminish your own in any way! It’s not about gay rights, it’s about basic human rights. For a society to be truly progressive, we need to embrace everyone as ‘one’, not categorize people into first and second class citizens based on their sex, caste, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.
https://www.unfe.org/en/actions/celina-jaitly

Celina is also a vehement animal rights activist and a PETA ambassador. She is the recipient of the coveted and prestigious PETA humanitarian award for her contribution in bringing light to the plight of captive elephants in India.
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She also did a strong campaign against animal testing at AIIMS (All India Institute of medical Sciences) and plight of animals in the zoo’s of India.

Celina is planning to soon start her own organization for children which will target caring for abandoned children and victims of terror and violence.

AWARDS:

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(1) Ms INDIA:
(Celina Jaitly was the only contestant since Aishwarya Rai to win most of the “Sub contests” at Femina Miss India Pageant:
Ms Beautiful Skin,
Ms Beautiful Eyes,
Ms Beautiful Body,
Surfers choice award,
MTV s choice award,
Best Dressed.

(2)Ms UNIVERSE RUNNER UP (2001):

(3)Award: Actress in a comic role
Kalakaar Awards
(For her hilarious performance in her hit film NO ENTRY)

(4)Award: Best Actress in a comic role
(Awarded for her performance in the hit comedy film Golmaal Returns)

(5)CCIF Contribution to cinema award
At Cairo International Film Festival

(6)Humanitarian Award
PETA INDIA (For bringing attention to the plight of captive elephants.)

PERSONAL LIFE;
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Celina Jaitly is married to Hotelier Peter Haag and they are the parents of adorable 21 month old twin boys Winston and Viraaj. The twins have had their twitter ID’s (@winstonjhaag) & (@viraajjhaag) since the day they were born and already, regularly contribute towards UNICEF and other good children’s causes. Celina is currently based out of Singapore /Dubai and travels for her film and endorsement work between Singapore/Dubai and Mumbai regularly, as she prefers to keep her family life private and away from the humdrum of media & public scrutiny in India.

More recently, the couple had one more set of twins, but after the birth one of them didn’t survived marking a real drastic moment in the famous actress life.