Elli Avram

Biography

Elisabet Avramidou Granlund (Greek: Ελισάβετ Αβραμίδου Γκράνλουντ; born 1989/1990), known professionally as Elli AvrRam, is a Swedish-Greek actress and is now based in Mumbai, India. She is known for her Hindi film Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon. AvrRam came to prominence after participating in the Indian reality TV show Bigg Boss in 2013. Elli along with Aamir Khan had a special appearance in the Koi Jaane Na film song "Har Funn Maula".

Elli was born in Stockholm, Sweden. She grew up in Tyresö Kommun, Stockholm. Her Greek father, Jannis Avramidis, is a musician who is now settled in Sweden; and her Swede mother, Maria Granlund, is an actress who had a part in Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander. 

AvrRam took an interest in figure skating, singing, and dancing in her initial years. AvrRam received training in acting from her mother and aunt who runs a theater in Skåne County, Sweden. AvrRam felt a connection to India since her childhood. In an interview with the local Stockholm newspaper Mitt I, she said, "Even when I was five, I was fascinated by Indian dance and the colorful clothes." 

Since her father is a Greek musician, she found some Greek songs related to Indian melodies. AvrRam dreamt of being a Bollywood actress since her adolescence. She would go to a video store in Stockholm that used to sell Hindi movies and she would buy Bollywood films from there. She also used to watch Hindi films on YouTube.

At 17, AvrRam became a member of the Stockholm-based Pardesi Dance Group, and gave dance performances, primarily on Bollywood songs.

AvrRam has done some acting projects in Sweden, the most noticeable of them is the December 2008 crime drama romance film, Förbjuden Frukt, where she played the role of Selen – the lead character's teen girlfriend. The film is set against the backdrop of violent crime, where she falls in love with a boy with a criminal past.

In 2010, AvrRam participated in the Miss Greece beauty contest. She also appeared on the Swedish TV show Gomorron Sverige.

In September 2012, AvrRam moved to Mumbai on a tourist visa to pursue an acting career in Bollywood. About the decision to act in Hindi movies, she expressed in an interview with N Magazine, "[When] I was 14, I had a TV in my room and watched Devdas which is almost four hours long. I didn't move the entire time. 

I thought, 'Wow, I want to act and dance like that. I have to do Bollywood movies.'" She signed up with a modeling agency and soon got a work visa. The agency helped her get auditions. The first considerable project she managed to get was a TV commercial for Eveready Industries India with the leading Indian actor Akshay Kumar.