Mallika Sherawat's birth name is Reema Lamba. She renamed herself Mallika (meaning 'Empress') Sherawat (which is her mother's maiden name) after entering Bollywood to avoid confusion with other Bollywood actresses named Reema Sen, Raima Sen, and Rimii Sen. 5' 6½" tall actress, Mallika, was born on October 24th 1981. Although educated in Delhi, she hails from Rohtak in Haryana, the heartland of jaatland! Her marriage to Jet Airways pilot Captain Karan Singh Gill lasted just over a year before ending in divorce.

Mallika says "I am a thorough Jat but education has tempered my personality. I went to a Hindi medium school but learnt English later and graduated from Miranda House, one of the best colleges in Delhi. I have done what I want to do and am comfortable with what I say. Girls in India are brainwashed to believe that marriage is their only destination. I don't think so and behave the way I believe is right. I have only one life. In the state I come from, women are repressed miserably and treated like cattle. I was born in Uttar Pradesh where the figures of female infanticide are the highest! I know I have ruffled feathers in Bollywood where most actresses go around with their mothers and are protégés of their families. They are coy and play games all the time."

On the subject of marriage the actress says, "having the same man every night is boring." Mallika is known for her shocking quotes to the media, but the question remains whether she mean them or are they planned to shock the Indian film fraternity and viewers?

Known as the sex queen, Mallika says, “I want to use my exotica like many American stars. Just like Halle Berry does,” she says, “I see their films, read a lot and have developed my attitude from what I have learnt. In Bollywood, sexy is often equivalent to dumb. But I take all digs patiently. I wish to develop my mind rather than devote energy to gossip and vengeful remarks. I am hungry for knowledge. I want to be an attractive woman of sex and passion, a woman who can make the first pass. But I have still to find a man to match this attitude.” Mallika says she uses her sex appeal as her own unique selling point.

Though 'Khwahish' was her debut film, Mallika was earlier seen in a smaller role in 'Jeena Sirf Mere Liye' in which she had a song with Tusshar Kapoor. She shocked the film world by doing 17 kisses in her debut film, 'Khwahish'.

• Farah Khan’s remake of Don. Starring Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Mallika Sherawat, Abhishek Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan.
• Mani Ratnam’s Guru . Starring: John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Vidya Balan and Mallika Sherawat. Mallika Sherawat has a significant cameo performance in the film.
• Perarasu’s Sivakasi is a Tamil film, starring Mallika Sherawat, Asin, Nayantara and Vijay.

Starting May 5, 2006, Mallika went on her first world tour called Rock Stars along with Salman Khan, John Abraham, Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, and Zayed Khan.

Mallika Sherawat's 'The Myth' opened on September 15, 2005 at Toronto International Film Festival. She has a 15 minute part in the film.

In the summer of 2005 some cyber miscreants had morphed her head with another body to show her as having sex with a white man. She feels her up-front attitude in all interviews has inspired this. There are those who feel that Mallika is getting her just due for all her 'bold and sexy' statements and actions. "It's not only me. Anyone could be victimized," she says, "This attacks the dignity and honour of a woman." Mallika has filed a complaint with the cyber crime cell of Mumbai police and awaits action on their behalf. There are others who say 'the question is why have the goons chosen only her for such an alleged crime? Why not the top five actresses of Bollywood?'"

She attended Cannes Film Festival 2005 with Jackie Chan. The cost of the diamonds that Mallika wore at the Cannes Film Festival was Rs 45 million. Orra Diamonds, the sponsor, made nine sets of jewelry especially designed for her.

Three years and four movies later, Mallika Sherawat has landed her international film debut. She costarred with Jackie Chan in 'Shen hua' and then she did 'The Myth' also with co star Jackie Chan.

Mallika is the first Indian woman to get an offer to pose nude for Playboy magazine but she refused the offer due to her morals and upbringing.

• Apr 28, 2006 Rama Gopal Verma’s Darna Zaroori Hai starring Riteish Deshmukh, Rajpal Yadav, Suniel Shetty, Randeep Hooda, Zakir Hussain, Sonali Kulkarni, Arjun Rampal, Bipasha Basu, Anil Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat, and Makrand Deshpande.
• 6 April, 2006 - Shaadi Se Pehle. Directed by Satish Kaushik. Starring Mallika Sherawat, Akshaye Khanna, Ayesha Takia, Sunil Shetty, Aaftab Shivdasani, Anupam Kher and Gulshan Grover.
• 2005 - Bachke Rehna Re Baba. Directed by Govind Menon. starring Rekha as Rukmini, Mallika Sherawat as Padmini, Paresh Rawal as Monty Bagga, Satish Shah as Fakirchand Mansukhani.
• 2005 - Shen hua. Directed by Stanley Tong. Starring Jackie Chan, Hee-seon Kim, Tony Leung Ka Fai, Mallika Sherawat as Indian Princess.
• 2004 - Kis Kis Ki Kismat . Directed by Govind Menon. Starring Rati Agnihotri, Dharmendra, Mallika Sherawat, Satish Shah, Tinnu Anand, Kurush Deboo, Jagdeep, Geeta Khanna, Siddharth Makkar, Tiku Talsania.
• 2004 - Murder. Directed by Anurag Basu. Starring Ashmit Patel, Mallika Sherawat, Emran Hashmi.
• 2003 - Khwahish. Directed by Govind Menon. Starring Himanshu Malik, Mallika Sherawat, Shivaji Satham, Mahmud Babai.
• 2002 - Jeena Sirf Merre Liye . Directed by Talat Jani. Starring Mallika Sherawat, Kareena Kapoor, Tusshar Kapoor, Kader Khan, Alok Nath, Himani Shivpuri, Vijayendra Ghatge.

• Mallika Sherawat has yet to prove herself as a real actress but she does make shocking news waves nonetheless. As long as the going is good, she has no qualms showing off her good figure. She retorts to the criticism by asking why anyone should apologize for being sexy?