Erica Fernandes
Born Name: Erica Jennifer Fernandes
Date of Birthday: 7 May 1993
Place of Birth: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Nationality: Indian
Occupation: Actress, Model
Siblings: Jermaine Fernandes
Parents: Ralph Fernandes, Lavina
Known for: Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi
Kasautii Zindagii Kay

Erica Jennifer Fernandes (born 7 May 1993) is an Indian actress and model. She is known for her portrayal of Dr. Sonakshi Bose Dixit in Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi and Prerna Sharma Basu in Kasautii Zindagii Kay.

Early life
Fernandes was born on 7 May 1993 in Mumbai to Ralph Fernandes and Lavina Fernandes, in a Konkani Mangalorean Catholic family. She has an elder brother, Jermaine Fernandes. She did her schooling from Holy Cross High School, Kurla and completed her Pre-Degree Course from Sies College Of Arts, Science & Commerce, Sion. She had enrolled for a BA degree from St Andrew's College, Bandra. Later she discontinued her studies to pursue a career in modelling.

Career
She always aspired to be a model since childhood, which earned her the crown of "Bombay Times Fresh Face", "Pantaloons Femina Miss Fresh Face 2011" and "Pantaloons Femina Miss Maharashtra" in 2010 and 2011 respectively. She was selected to play the lead role in the bilingual Virattu/Dega, featuring newcomer Sujiv, son of the director Kumar.

Director Sasi had seen pictures of her at Meera Kathiravan's office, with whom she was shooting another film, when he was casting for Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu. Sasi offered her a role of a software engineer in the film alongside Bharath, who plays her love interest. Due to the delay of her other films, Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu became her first release. In 2014, she made her debut in Kannada with the film Ninnindale, featuring alongside Puneeth Rajkumar, which was followed by her debut Hindi film, Babloo Happy Hai, directed by Nila Madhab Panda. In February 2014, Virattu eventually released. Its Telugu version, however, was pushed to late 2014 and Galipatam became her first Telugu release. The film received decent reviews from critics, who also noted that Erica "does a good job" and "shows maturity".

Her delayed film with Kathiravan, Vizhithiru, released on 6 October 2017 and saw her feature amongst an ensemble cast including Krishna, Venkat Prabhu and Sara Arjun.

In 2016, Fernandes made her television debut with Sony TV's Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi where she portrayed Dr. Sonakshi Bose, opposite Shaheer Sheikh. Her onscreen chemistry with Shaheer Sheikh was appreciated.

From 2018 to 2020, she portrayed Prerna Sharma in Star Plus's Kasautii Zindagii Kay, opposite Parth Samthaan. Erica Fernandes bags Dadasaheb Phalke award for Best Actress for Kuch Rang Pyar Ke Aise Bhi. She played the character of Dr. Sonakshi Bose and paired opposite Shaheer Sheikh.

Media
In 2017, Fernandes was ranked 4th in Times of India's Most Desirable Women on Indian Television List.

In 2018, she was placed 15th in Biz Asia's TV Personality List. She was also listed 3rd in Times of India's Most Desirable Women on Indian Television List 2018.

Fernandes was placed 13th in Eastern Eye's 50 Sexiest Asian Women of 2019 List and 4th in Times of India's Most Desirable Women On Television List 2019.

Fernandes was ranked first in The Times Most Desirable Women on TV 2020.