Nafisa Joseph
| Beauty pageant titleholder | |
 |
|
| Born |
28 March 1978 Bangalore, Karnataka,  India
|
|---|---|
| Died | 29 July 2004 (aged 26) Mumbai, Maharashtra India
|
| Alma mater | St. Joseph's College |
| Occupation | Model, TV Presenter |
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in) |
| Title(s) | Femina Miss India Universe 1997 |
| Major competition(s) |
Femina Miss India 1997 (Winner) Miss Universe 1997 (Top 10) |
| Religion | Christianity |
Nafisa Joseph (28 March 1978 – 29 July 2004) was an Indian model and MTV video jockey. She was the winner of Femina Miss India Universe 1997 and was a finalist in the Miss Universe 1997 pageant in Miami Beach.
Nafisa Joseph was born on 28 March 1978 in Bangalore, Karnataka, where she was brought up too. She was the younger of two daughters born to father Nirmal Joseph, a Keralite Syrian Christian and mother Usha Joseph, a Bengali, who was a descendant of Tagore and first cousin of Sharmila Tagore. Nafisa studied at Bishop Cotton Girls' School and St. Joseph's College, both at Bangalore. She was raised Catholic, but owed her Islamic first name to the fact that her paternal grandmother was Muslim.
Joseph started modelling at age 12 when her neighbour got her an opportunity to model for a Wearhouse ad. She was groomed as a model by Prasad Bidapa. Joseph was the youngest participant at the Miss India pageant in 1997, which she won. Joseph participated in the Miss Universe Pageant in Miami Beach, Florida on May 16, 1997, and was among the 10 semifinalists in the pageant.
In 1999, she was a judge for the MTV India VJ Hunt and was also a VJ for MTV. A week later she was called for a screen test to host a show on MTV . She ran the MTV House Full show for close to five years. She also acted in a television series C.A.T.S, an Indian version of Charlie's Angels for Sony Entertainment Television. In 2004, She hosted a show Style on Star World. She also launched a television programming unit 2's Company with the help of her fiancé, Gautam Khanduja. She edited a magazine called Gurlz. She also had a brief cameo in the Subhash Ghai film Taal.
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