‘Imported’ actresses don’t have too much lasting power in competitive Bollywood. But Lauren Gottlieb has reason to believe she’s here for a longer haul. The dancer-choreographer fulfilled her dream of being on screen in Welcome to Karachi and ABCD2 and now looks all set to return as a judge on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. Suddenly, she seems to be everywhere.
Where’s she from
Lauren Gottlieb grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona, and moved to L.A at the age of 18 to pursue her dream of dancing and to be in showbiz.
Dance, dance, dance
From the time she was a little girl, Lauren had wanted to be a dancer and had learnt every sort of dance form she could think of.
Image source: IANS
The first break
L.A was a struggle, but Lauren hung in there until she found herself on So You Think You Can Dance. That opened doors. She got into TV and began to host shows. She also danced in small roles in films.
Bollywood beckoned
Lauren had always wanted to both dance and act and you can’t do both in Hollywood. So B-Town it had to be. She was in for luck. Remo D’Souza who’d seen her in So You Think You Can Dance offered her a role in ABCD and she headed for Bollywood.
Image source: IANS
Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa
After ABCD, Lauren went back to the US, but she was bitten by the Bollywood bug. She was back and, again luckily, was offered the job of being a judge on the TV dance show. It was Jhalak that Salman Khan met her and encouraged her.
Movies
Her desire to act was fulfilled when she got offered Welcome 2 Karachi. And now there’s ABCD2.
The India connection
Lauren said in an interview, ‘I feel that I have a spiritual connection with India. I don’t know if it has a connection with my past life but in my heart and soul, I feel like an Indian.’
