Rochelle Rao – Femina Miss India International 2012

Rochelle Maria Rao, professionally known as Rochelle Rao and Rochelle Rao Sequeira is a successful model, actress and star anchor from Chennai. Crowned Femina Miss India International 2012, she represented her country at Miss International 2012 pageant held at Okinawa, Japan, and managed to finish at 9^th position among 80 contestants. Same year she lost to Shamata Anchan in Femina Miss India South pageant and finished second. She appeared as the TV host for Indian Premier League – Season 6 and mostly endorsed cosmetic brands. She has been featured in several men’s magazines too. She is married to B4U’s popular VJ and TV actor Keith Sequeira, and they together have participated in Bigg Boss 9 and Nach Baliye 9.

For her modeling career she received encouragement from mother and sister

Rochelle Rao was born in Chennai in 1988 as the daughter of Doctor N. V. Rao, best known for natural healing. He is also a medical consultant on herbal extracts, and a photographer by passion. Rochelle started her career as a model and later moved to Mumbai where she succeeded in this field. Right from early days she received support from mother and her sister Paloma Rao, an actress, VJ and DJ. Her mother used to document photos of her modeling shows. She also started anchoring shows by then, and later came to limelight after being crowned as Femina Miss India International 2012.

Rochelle Rao along with her husband Keith Sequeira enjoying Bahubali thali at Chennai (though the image didn’t fully cover him)

After that she worked as a model for several leading brands, especially beauty products and anchored many shows. Though not associated with TV soaps, she is a familiar face to Hindi TV viewers, because she frequently appears as a contestant in celebrity reality shows, and has been featured in two seasons of The Kapil Sharma Show.

Rochelle Rao – Some interesting and less-known facts

Keith Sequeira and Rochelle Rao

1. Her brother Noel Rohn Rao was a Squad Leader in the US. He was the first foreign person to become a US citizen under a new military rule.

2. She was crowned Femina Miss India International 2012 by outgoing titleholder Ankita Shorey, a well-established name in modeling industry.

3. She also won three subtitles – “Miss Glamorous Diva”, “Miss Ramp Walk”, “Miss Body Beautiful” at Femina Miss India International 2012.

4. She and Keith Sequeira got evicted in the first week of Nach Baliye 9 aired in 2019.

5. She was dating Keith in 2015, when they participated in Bigg Boss 9. They got married in 2018.

6. Her husband was formerly married to Bollywood actress Samyukta Singh, who played lead role in Salaami released in 1994. They got legally separated in 2011.

7. She has been featured in the prestigious Kingfisher Calendar in 2014 when the photo shoot was conducted in Boracay, Philippines. Nicole Faria, Sobhita Dhulipala and Sahar Biniaz are other leading models featured in the same edition.

8. Rochelle and her sister Paloma Rao are famous for their mutual support in their respective careers. Rochelle is two years younger to Paloma. Both are popular television anchors, models and VJs.

9. She appeared in ‘Lottery‘ episode in The Kapil Sharma Show.

10. She was a contestant of Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi in 2014, and got eliminated in the second episode.