Mandana Karimi

Karimi was born on 19 May 1988 in Tehran, Iran, into a Muslim family. Her father has Indian ancestry and her mother is an Indian. She was raised in Tehran. About her Indian connection she commented, "I had come to India many times, visiting my family or for holidays." Karimi started her career as an air hostess, and later quit that job to pursue a career in modelling. In 2010, after working on various international modelling projects, she came to Mumbai for three months on a modelling contract. About her experience in India she said, "I had a different experience, staying without my family. I absolutely loved it! Work was great, but at that time, I had other contracts around the world. Then, in 2013, I decided to move to Mumbai and try acting." Karimi has done TV commercials with Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor. In February 2015, she made a guest appearance in the film Roy. Later that year, in September, her movie Bhaag Johnny was released. She also appeared in the October 2015 film, Main Aur Charles, where she played the role of Charles Sobraj's assistant. Karimi's next film, Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3, a sex comedy, was released on 22 January 2016. Karimi was a contestant in the reality TV show, Bigg Boss 9, where a group of celebrities from various walks of life live together in a large house. One of the contestants is eliminated every week, based on public votes. The show went on air in October 2015 on Colors. She was one of the three finalists of the season and ended up as a runner-up. In 2018, she joined Star Plus's Ishqbaaaz as Nancy. In October 2018, Karimi accused Umesh Ghadge the director of Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3 of sexual harassment. She had also accused director Sajid Khan of sexual harassment at the time and expressed her intention to quit Bollywood after Khan appeared as contestant on Bigg Boss 16 in 2022. Mandana participated in an Indian TV reality show called Lock-Upp.