How Karenjit Kaur's screen name became Sunny Leone

Sunny Leone was born to Indian immigrants in Canada and her real name is Karenjit Kaur Vohra. It was the name most unsuited to a career in erotic entertainment. At 19, she was picked as Penthouse's 'Pet' for March 2001 and the men's magazine helped find her a new name. In 2012, adult film star Sunny Leone made a quantum leap into mainstream Bollywood with a lead role in the hit film Jism 2. India was quickly fascinated - she has been the most Googled Indian celebrity for two years running - but perhaps slower to admit to it. Four years and less than 10 films later, Sunny spoke in length. When she started out here, an appearance on the reality show Bigg Boss preceding her being cast in the Pooja Bhatt-made Jism 2, the film industry didn't quite know what to make of her.

Thank you...thank you...thank you!! #KarenjitKaur @ZEE5India @adidatt @freshlimefilms pic.twitter.com/pDO2gcpvWE

— Sunny Leone (@SunnyLeone) July 7, 2018

While we all know how Karenjit Kaur became Sunny Leone, the secret behind her screen name is yet to be revealed. The Jism 2 actor is all set to give an insight into her life through Zee5’s web series Karenjit Kaur – The untold story of Sunny Leone. While the web series will trace Sunny’s journey from the American adult industry to Bollywood, it will also decode the mystery behind her name.

The web series also touches upon her relationship with her elder brother, who has always been very close to her. In an interview, Sunny had mentioned how he still calls her Gogo, a nickname that she was given as a child. Sundeep was the first one to know about Sunny’s secret career and he was supportive towards her when she broke the news to her parents. After their death, the siblings have been each other’s strength.

In an interview with Walk The Talk said, "When you become a Penthouse Pet, they send you across the country on radio, TV, magazine shoots, all these different things and I was 19-years-old and this was a whole new world,". A name change was in order and the story of how she chose to be called 'Sunny Leone' is somewhat surprising. Wikipedia will tell you that she claimed that 'Sunny' was her real name - but it actually belongs to her brother. "When I was doing this interview for the magazine, they asked, what do you want your name to be? And I said 'how about Sunny and you guys pick the last name?' And it wasn't something that I really thought about. Sunny just happens to be my brother's nickname. His name is Sandeep," the actress now known as Sunny Leone explained.

Sunny Leone