Born in Mumbai Genelia is an East Indian, a Marathi speaking Christian from North Konkan. She was raised in the Bandra suburb of Mumbai. Her mother Jeanette D'Souza was a managing director of the Pharma Multinational corporation. She left her job in 2004 to help Genelia with her career.

The year 2006 marked a significant turning point in Genelia's career. She completed two Telugu movies in early 2006, one was the romantic comedy Happy, and the other was Raam. She then portrayed the role of Haasini, a vibrant, effervescent and a happy-go-lucky young girl, in the 2006 Telugu romantic film Bommarillu. The movie, a blockbuster at the box-office, grossed Rs250 million (US$3.8 million) in India, and also won the 2006 Golden Nandi award. Her character was well received, and garnered her the Telugu Filmfare Award for Best Actress, besides Nandi Special Jury Award and Santosham Award for Best Actress. Sify concluded about her acting in their review that, "The scene stealer is Genelia with her innocent looks and cute mannerisms. She does not overact and we just fall in love with her character. Genelia looks like a dream in chic skirts and is the life of the party and raises the bar of the film."  Following the success of Bommarillu, Genelia played the role of the daughter of a local don, in the Tamil gangster film Chennai Kadhal alongside Boys co-star Bharath. Rediff.com criticized her commenting, "Genelia stands up yet again to prove the point that if you are pretty and well dressed, you can get away with anything, without acting." Shortly afterwards in 2007, Genelia played the role of sister of a notorious gangster in the blockbuster Telugu movie Dhee, set against a gang war backdrop.  The following year, Genelia appeared in the 2008 Telugu romantic thriller Mr. Medhavi, in which she portrayed the role of a student from Canada. The movie was successful, with Rediff.com complimenting her performance saying, "Genelia is her effervescent self - full of joie-de-vivre and lights up the screen." She made her Kannada debut in Satya in Love the same year. Later, she was cast in a leading role in Santhosh Subramaniam, a Tamil remake of Bommarillu. The film also turned out to be rather successful as its predecessor. Sify described Genelia's portrayal as "the soul of the film" and the film's "biggest strength", however Rediff.com described her character as "appears a little too good to be true."

did she win any awards for any of the work she did?
Her character was well received, and garnered her the Telugu Filmfare Award for Best Actress, besides Nandi Special Jury Award and Santosham Award for Best Actress.