"I went for the [TIFF] press conference but had to bounce down to PMH (Princess Margaret Hospital) for my chemo treatment. Though at the time I didn’t tell anyone, I felt more invested in my day. The two worlds can blend: its okay to cross over from ballroom to chemo daycare."

Ray's blog has already attracted hundreds of comments and supportive messages from fans and well-wishers. Later this month, she will be named as one of four national ambassadors for the 'Because I Am a Girl Child' campaign of Plan Canada. The campaign fights for the rights of girls around the world who face discrimination because of their gender and age.

About Lisa Ray's cancer

By going public, Ray hopes to bring the spotlight back to this form of cancer. Entitled 'Gently Carbonating', the entry for September 8th, 2009 in Lisa Ray's personal blog reads...

"I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma on June 23rd. Started my first cycle of treatment July 2nd. Not long ago. For me, it was a relief to hear what was wrong."

"The plasma cells in my bone marrow were rampaging, multiplying, squeezing out the red blood cells and it was time to begin doing something about it. I was also tired of being tired all the time. So when I sat there with Bobcat - my life partner and reservoir of Yellow - and got the news I didn’t react and I didn’t cry. I’m an actress, believe me, I can be dramatic. Not just then though.

First the facts.

Myeloma is incurable.

It’s a relatively rare cancer of the bone marrow that affects about 6000 Canadians. Every year, approximately 2100 more cases are diagnosed. I’m a junior Member in many ways, having been diagnosed at 37, while the average age is 65. Makes the disease not quite as ‘sexy’ as other cancers. But we can change that.

So today with Velcade™ and, Revlimid™ and other promising new treatments in the pipeline our survival rates are improving. But only with an ever expanding toolbox of treatments and awareness can this cancer be beat. So I’m going to do everything I can to wrench the spotlight onto Myeloma and Cancer Awareness.

I believe it can be cured.

That’s the Dirty Realist in me."

About Lisa Ray

One of India's top supermodels, Lisa Ray made her North American feature film debut with Bollywood/Hollywood. Born and raised in Toronto to Bengali father and Polish mother, Ray moved to India in 1992 to pursue a career as a model and an actor. An instant hit as a model, she emerged, as a rising star in Mumbai's thriving film industry after her debut film 'Kasoor' directed by Vikram Bhatt became a hit. She then appeared in Afeen, a music video for the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Ray has also anchored television and live shows and was also the spokesperson for L'Oreal and Rado watches.

In her final semester at drama school in London, she was offered a lead role in Deepa Mehta’s Oscar-nominated film Water (2005). This earned her the attention of the international film community. She has since been working in Canadian, American and European productions, demonstrating her range and defying conventional casting in her characterizations.

She was voted ‘Star of the Future’ at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival for her role in Deepa Mehta’s Bollywood/Hollywood, one of the ‘Top Ten Most Beautiful Indian Women of the Millenium’ by the Times of India and won the Best Actress award for her role in Water by the Vancouver Film Critics Circle as well as numerous nominations for the same portrayal of a widow in India in the 1930s.

Recent roles include a stoic farm girl in Leonard Farlinger’s 'All Hat' which premiered at Toronto International Film Festival in 2007, a small town kindergarten teacher in Camelia Frieberg’s 'A Stone Throw' and an Indian housewife in apartheid South Africa in the 50s in 'The World Unseen' – marking her second collaboration with the director Shamim Sarif, the first being 'I Can't Think Straight'. Other projects include 'Kill Kill Faster Faster', a Gareth Roberts project based on the novel by Joel Rose, the thriller 'Seeking Fear' and the romantic comedy 'Quarterlife Crisis'.

Recently she has been working on a number of projects including reuniting with Deepa Mehta to shoot her latest film 'What’s Cooking' with her 'Water' co-Star Seema Biswas. She also just finished the CBC mini-series 'The Summit' opposite Bruce Greenwood, Christopher Plummer and James Purefoy.

Lisa is based in Toronto and LA.

Visit http://lisaraniray.wordpress.com for Lisa Ray's blog.