Ester Noronha

Ester Noronha is a Roman Catholic and traces her roots to the aristocratic family of the Noronha's of portugal. Her paternal ancestors are said to be Portuguese/Goans who settled in Verna - Goa and eventually moved to Udupi - Karnataka. While her mother is a Mangalorean.

Ester married Indian singer and rapper Noel Sean in January 2019.[3] They separated in February 2019 due to irreconcilable differences and filed for divorce in June 2019. The couple was granted the divorce in the Court of Law as well the Court of Church (Annulment) in August 2020.[4]

Ester Valerie Noronha was born to Valerian Noronha and Janet Noronha in Bahrain. Due to the interest Ester showed in music and dance at a very young age, her mother gave up her career and they down to Mangalore, where Ester continued her schooling while pursuing training in Piano, Bharatnatyam, Carnatic singing, and Guitar. She started performing in Konkani Live Shows at the age of 9 and became an instant hit as a child artist and performer among the Mangalorean Konkani community. She went on to perform in numerous shows locally and abroad, delivering several hit numbers and participating in albums and shows of all the top composers and musicians in Konkani language.

Ester was brought up in Mangalore between the years 2000–2008. She completed 8 grades in Piano from the Trinity College of London, Senior grade in Bharatnatyam from the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB), also completed the Junior grade in Carnatic singing from the KSEEB and also performed the "Rangapravesha" in both by the age of 14.

Ester is the first artist in the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka to have performed "Rangapravesha" in both Bharatnatyam and Carnatic singing.

At the age of 14, she established her independent musical live show with the title "Ester Show" which was in aid of the Mangalore Diocesan Medical relief fund.

Ester has always been a distinguished student academically. Due to her interest in the social sciences and her drive to do something for society, she dreamed of getting into Civil Services, for which she chose to take up Arts in college. She then moved to Mumbai where she studied at the prestigious St. Xavier's college. She went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) in Political Science and Psychology and is now an M.A in Political Science under the University of Mumbai.

She continued to keep training in music and dance and performing on stage during college. She took training in Hindustani singing under Ustad Hafiz Khan, Mumbai. She produced and released her maiden audio album in Konkani titled 'Ester's "Kalza Thaun"(from the heart)' comprising ten songs composed and sung by herself at the age of 16.

During one of her Bharatnatyam shows in Bangalore, she was noticed by the legendary Bollywood choreographer Saroj Khan who advised her to try her luck in films. Ester went on to get trained in Kathak and Bollywood dancing under Saroj Khan for around two years, during which she got introduced to the World of Cinema.

Ester joined Anupam Kher's 'Actor Prepares – The School for Actors', where she completed her Diploma course in acting.

Ester debuted in Bollywood with the critically acclaimed non-commercial film Baromas under her Guru Saroj Khan's choreography. Baromas went on to be screened and nominated in various Countries and Film Festivals around the World, including the 2012 South Asian International Film Festival in New York City and the DC Independent Film Festival (DCIFF) in Washington, DC. It was the only Indian movie to be selected and competing in the feature films category against films from the United States, Switzerland, UK, and Canada.

She was then cast by film director Teja in his Telugu movie 1000 Abaddalu in 2013, which went on to be a hit, and Ester was immediately signed by the prestigious Suresh Productions for their Golden Jubilee project Bhimavaram Bullodu, opposite Hero Sunil. The project was in celebration of the 50th year of the production house and it turned out to be a massive hit, completing 50 successful days in theaters across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, making Ester Noronha popular and loved by the audience in the Telugu film industry Tollywood.

Ester debuted in Sandalwood (Kannada) with the movie Usirigintha Neene Hattira, produced by E. K. Entertainers. It was released in 2014 and introduced Ester to Kannada movie makers and audiences.

As Ester was still in college when she entered films, she realized her education suffered and thus decided to take a break and focus on her studies. In her interview with the Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad (2017), she was stated saying, "I was still studying when I did 1000 Abaddalu and Bheemavaram Bullodu. Suddenly, it seemed like acting was going to stay and I wasn't prepared for it as I was in my final year of graduation, which was very important for me. So, I focused on my studies and completed the MA in Political Science from the University of Mumbai last year, which was my actual dream and plan". The actress had earlier made plans to prepare for the Civil exams. "I want to. I guess time will reveal whether I will be able to fulfill that dream or not. I completed my masters for that only".

Yet, she appeared in the title song of the Telugu movie Garam, alongside hero Aadi, and in the Tamil movie Meen Kuzhambum Mann Paanaiyum (English: Fish Curry And The Clay Pot) starring Kalidas Jayaram in the lead. Dr. Kamal Haasan shot for a cameo appearance in the film. Upon release, the film opened to mostly positive reviews from critics.

She is in support of the uplifting of her mother-tongue Konkani and contributed by supporting one of the first efforts to make a full-fledged commercial Mangalorean Konkani movie Noshibacho Khell by acting in it. The film became a historic blockbuster hit upon release and created a milestone in the Konkani Cinema World, thus making Ester a household name in the Mangalorean Catholic Konkani speaking community globally.

She went on to star in her next Konkani project Sophiya - A Dream Girl produced by her mother Mrs. Janet Noronha under the production banner "Janet Noronha Productions", which is one of the first professional attempts in Konkani cinema made with high-quality technical aspects and a big budget. The movie released with high expectations and lived up to it due to the positive reviews and response from the audience as well as the critics.

In 2017, Ester starred in Boyapati Srinu's multi-starrer Jaya Janaki Nayaka (Telugu), Nayanam (Telugu), Nuggkai (Kannada), Director Mahesh Babu's Athiratha (Kannada).

She has acted in more than 25 films in eight languages till now.

Ester has evolved as a singer over the years and is now venturing into playback singing. She rendered her voice for a Konkani movie Nachom-ia Kumpasar (Let's dance to the rhythm) for the song Meu Amor. The movie is based on the lives of two jazz musicians, Chris Perry and Lorna. The film, which takes its title from the name of a song by the two artists, was directed by Bardroy Barretto. The story is told through over 20 popular Konkani songs from the 1960s and 1970s that have been re-recorded for this film. The film is set in the 1960s and is a tribute to the "unsung" Konkani musicians of that era. At the 62nd National Film Awards, the film won two awards and a special mention. The film won the award for the best feature film in Konkani. The film also won Lebara Play Audience Choice Award for best film at London Indian Film Festival 2015. Nachom-ia Kumpasar was also included in the short list for the 2016 Oscars.

Ester sang for the Konkani film Sophiya – A Dream Girl in which she acted too which was produced by her mother Janet Noronha.

Ester Noronha's Despacito Konkani cover song featuring Noel Sean in the rap went viral in April – May 2018 and went on to cross one million views in less than three months thus creating a world record of being the first Konkani song on YouTube to do so. The video has now reached way beyond that record too. Ester also sang for and was featured in the Despacito Telugu Cover song by Noel Sean which went equally viral and created waves in Telugu music industry, too.

• Ester Noronha at IMDb
• Teen Sensation Ester Noronha Begins her Bollywood Career