She subsequently experienced a breakthrough in her career as her following releases Rakhi (2006) and Munna (2007) proved critically and financially successful. Her Telugu film Khatarnak (2006) in which she acted opposite Ravi Teja did not do as well as expected, which has been attributed to her glamorous appearance not going down well with the audience. Although the film did not do so well at the box-office, D'Cruz remained too busy to accept all the film roles offered to her. She made her Tamil-language film debut in Kedi (2006). The film was a high financial success, emerging as the highest-grossing Telugu film at the time. She next appeared in the gangster film Pokiri in which she portrayed an aerobics teacher, who is harassed by a corrupt police officer. almost cried and didn't want to go further", but went ahead after her mother encouraged her, giving her "the lecture of a lifetime at 3 am." A review from Indiaglitz stated that she "has chiseled features and a figure to die-for." Devadasu became the year's first commercially successful Telugu film, eventually grossing around ₹140 million, whilst earning D'Cruz the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debutant. She recalls that during filming she felt "pressured. She underwent acting classes with Aruna Bhikshu, before starting to work on the film. She made her feature film debut in the Telugu language romance film Devadasu (2006), directed by Y. In 2005, D'Cruz was called for an audition by director Teja, but the project was cancelled. On 28 August 2019, Indian media aired the news that the couple had broken up. It was rumored that they had already married. She was in a relationship with Andrew Kneebone, an Australian photographer. In an interview with Verve in 2017, she said that Portugal was a part of her ancestry. ĭ'Cruz acquired Portuguese nationality in 2014. The latter, in particular, which was directed by Rakesh Roshan, gave her exposure and brought in several offers for acting in feature films. Subsequent photo shoots and ramp shows led to a second portfolio the following year, which landed her advertisements from Electrolux, Emami Talc and Fair & Lovely. Her first portfolio was created in January 2003 D'Cruz called it a "disaster". Her family moved to Parra, Goa when she was 10 years old. D'Cruz was born to a Catholic father and Muslim mother in Mahim, Mumbai on 1 November 1987.