Tarina Patel is a South African actress, film producer and model, born in Cape Town and raised in Durban. Patel has appeared on numerous magazine covers including Elle, Dossier, FHM, Cosmopolitan, The Real Housewives Of Johannesburg and Glamour.
Early life
Patel was raised in a suburb called The Bluff, Durban situated in KwaZulu-Natal province. She is the only daughter of Raman Patel, a doctor specialising in family and emergency medicine, and Veena Patel a teacher of English and History. Patel was raised as a Hindu and credits her paternal grandmother with instilling her with faith and strength. She attended Durban Girl's College. She studied English, Afrikaans, French and Latin. She finished school at the age of 16 and went to India to study medicine. She then returned to South Africa to complete her studies in psychology at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein. She graduated summa cum laude.
Career
Acting and film
Patel returned to India after competing her degree in psychology and learned Hindi - a prerequisite for an actor in the Indian film industry. She made her film debut in 2006 with the film One Night With The King alongside Omar Sharif and Peter O'Toole. She followed with the Bollywood film Just Married, released on March 16, 2007. She had a special appearance in Dhol.She also performed a small role in the movie Bhagam Bhag and in Bhool Bhulaiyaa, which was the year's highest grossing motion picture, in which she had the supporting role of Nandini Upadhyay. She next appeared 2007's Dus Kahaniyaan. In 2008, Patel had a small role in Karzzzz as Julie. In addition, she starred in Khallbali-Fun Unlimited which was released on November 28, 2008. In 2010, Patel starred in Chase. She portrayed a diverse range of characters, although all were strong women. She was signed to one of the Top 5 agencies in Hollywood, Paradigm, during 2010 where she auditioned for movie roles during the highly competitive and challenging pilot season. She is represented in the UK by Independent. She was working on a film entitled Mandela's Gun as executive producer. In February 2015 she joined Generations: The Legacy.
Modelling
She has appeared on numerous magazine covers and was one of the few South African women to feature on an Elle cover. She was also chosen to feature in Chopard's "Some Of The World's Most Beautiful Women Wear Chopard" campaign. She featured in Burberry's trench coat campaign in India. In 2010 she walked the ramp for Gitanjali Jewels during their show for India International Jewellery Week and has appeared in advertisements for the jewellery line. She has endorsed products for Cremebelle Ice Cream, Hyundai, ICICI Bank, Polo Mints, Cadbury's Chocolate, Kingfisher, VIP Suiting, Fair & Lovely, Maruti Car, Mentor Sportswear, TBZ Jewellery, Blue Film airconditioning and Airtel. She has appeared in many music videos.
