| She was born in Toronto, Canada to a Polish mother and Hindu Bengali father. | 
| She shared a close bond with her maternal grandmother and conversed in Polish with her. | 
| She enjoyed watching movies by Satyajit Ray and Federico Fellini with her friendly father. | 
| She spent part of her childhood in Calcutta (now Kolkata). | 
| She excelled academically, completing 5 years of high school in just 4 years. | 
| Her plan to study journalism at a Canadian university was interrupted by her mother's car accident. | 
| She gained fame by gracing the cover of Gladrags magazine in a red Baywatch-style swimsuit. | 
| She was ranked the 9th most beautiful woman of the millennium in a Times of India poll. | 
| She returned to Toronto in 2008 following her mother's passing. | 
| In 2009, she announced her battle with Multiple Myeloma at the Toronto International Film Festival. | 
| To chronicle her cancer journey, she launched a blog called The Yellow Diaries. | 
| She follows a strict vegetarian diet and abstains from dairy products. |