Fernandez was born on 11 August 1985, in Manama, Bahrain, and was raised in a multi-ethnic family. Her father Elroy is of Sri Lankan, and her mother Kim of Malaysian descent. Her grandfather, on her mother's side of the family, is Canadian and her great grandparents were from Goa, India. Her father, who was a musician in Sri Lanka, moved to Bahrain in the 1980s to escape civil unrest between the Tamils and Sinhalese and subsequently met her mother who was an air hostess. She is the youngest of four children with one elder sister and two elder brothers. She hosted television shows in Bahrain at the age of fourteen. After receiving her early education in Bahrain, she pursued a degree in mass communication from the University of Sydney in Australia. After graduating she worked as a television reporter in Sri Lanka. She also attended the Berlitz school of languages, where she learnt Spanish and improved her French and Arabic.
According to Fernandez, she had aspired to become an actress at a young age and fantasized about becoming aHollywood movie star. She received some training at the John School of Acting. Although, she was a television reporter, she accepted offers in the modeling industry, which came as a result of her pageant success. In 2006, she was crowned the winner of the Miss Universe Sri Lanka pageant[4] and represented Sri Lanka at the world Miss Universe 2006 pageant held in Los Angeles. In a 2015 interview, Fernandez described the modeling industry as "a good training ground" and said: "It is a medium that is about shedding your inhibitions, knowing your body, confidence". In 2006, she appeared in a music video for the song "O Sathi" by music duo Bathiya and Santhush.
/jacqueline%20fernandez/jacqueline-fernandez-265-a.jpg)
