Katrina's 25th birthday a family affair in London

Katrina Kaif has many reasons to smile. First her recent release 'New York' became a huge success and now comes her birthday, which the British-born actress will celebrate with her entire family in London Thursday.

'I'm celebrating my birthday this year with my entire family, all my sisters who have flown down from all over, my mom who's flown down from Chennai and my brother who's a professional rock climber,' Katrina, who will turn 25, told IANS through SMS.

'I was supposed to spend a long holiday with them last year during Christmas and New Year in London, but I had to cut my trip short because of my work schedule. So this year I'm specially taking time out for them and we are going to Italy for a family get together. I haven't had a break in almost two years, so I'm looking forward to this,' added the actress.

Last year her birthday bash turned ugly when beau Salman Khan picked a fight with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. So this year Katrina is celebrating her birthday away from tinsel town.

She is just six years old in the industry, but has found a firm foothold.

Katrina's first break in Bollywood was Kaizad Gustad's 2003 'Boom'. Though the film was a flop, people started noticing her and offered her roles and one of them was Ram Gopal Varma's 2005 film 'Sarkar'. She had a small role as Abhishek Bachchan's girlfriend, but made her presence felt in the film, which was a Mumbai underworld interpretation of Mario Puzo's 1969 novel 'The Godfather'.

Katrina's big success came in the form of 2008 super hit film 'Namastey London' and she continued her winning streak with 'Apne', 'Partner', 'Welcome', 'Race' and 'Singh Is Kinng'.

Subhash Ghai's 'Yuvvraaj' disrupted it, but only for a brief period, as Katrina bounced back with the commercial and critical success of Kabir Khan's 'New York', a film about 9/11.

According to film critics, with big banners, huge fan-base and several brand endorsements, Katrina is currently one of the most sought after actresses in the Hindi film industry.

'Katrina has evolved immensely as an actress. In Bollywood, actors are mostly known for the number of hits they deliver. Katrina has won hands down in that respect. She can undoubtedly be called a lucky mascot for her producers,' said popular film critic Taran Adarsh.

Mumbai-based film critic Anupama Chopra says there are high expectations from Katrina even this year.

'Katrina has had a fortunate choice of films' even though she 'had a rather unfortunate start with 'Boom'. She is a stunning looking actress and so far she is doing well with her glam doll image. We did see glimpses of an actor in her performance-oriented roles in 'Namastey London',' said Chopra.

Her basket is full of good roles - she will be seen in films like 'Blue' starring Akshay Kumar and Sanjay Dutt, Rajkumar Santoshi's 'Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani' and Priyadarshan's 'De Dana Dan' yet again starring Akshay. She is also doing the female lead in Prakash Jha's political drama 'Rajneeti'.

Katrina is one of eight siblings. Her mother is British and her father is from Jammu and Kashmir who has since acquired British citizenship.

The actress spent her formative years in Hawaii but later moved to London.