Collien Fernandes

Fernandes was born in Hamburg to an Indian father of Portuguese and Indian descent and a Hungarian German mother. She grew up with her little sister in Schenefeld. At age 15, she moved out from home to begin her career as a model. Fernandes was interested in music and started singing with the band Yam Yam. She went to dance schools in Hamburg and London.

Fernandes featured in a number of music videos as background dancer for artists such as Enrique Iglesias and Dieter Bohlen's band Modern Talking. Producers took note of this, and she soon signed a record contract with BMG. Fernandes began her TV career in 2000 presenting a number of shows and in the autumn of 2001 became the new presenter of Bravo TV on RTL2. This followed with guest appearances on The Dome and TV total. Since 2003, she has been a presenter of a number of shows on the music television channel VIVA and DSF's Maxim TV. In February 2004, Fernandes appeared in her first movie A2 Racer. That same year, she appeared in Night of the Living Dorks. In 2007, she appeared in two more films, namely Ossi's Eleven and Instructor Schmidt, in which she played the leading female role. In 2007, she was nominated along with the rest of the cast from the new Sat.1 series Dr. Molly & Karl for an Adolf Grimme Award. And in 2009 she starred in the RTL show Alarm for Cobra 11 – The Highway Police. Since the beginning of June 2009, Fernandes has been the presenter of the ProSieben show MyVideoStar. In September 2009, Fernandes was ejected from the Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin for asking Lady Gaga during a press conference whether she had a penis or a vagina.

Fernandes has modelled for a number of companies, including Otto, Neckermann and BeeDees. She has also been in television advertisements for Ferrero's Kinder Bueno and Mercedes-Benz. Fernandes was elected "Woman of the Year" in 2003 and 2006 by the readers of the German Maxim. She has also appeared in other editions of Maxim – in Russia, Spain, Ukraine and the United States. In 2010, she was elected "Sexiest Woman in the World" by the readers of the German FHM magazine.

Fernandes met German actor Christian Ulmen in August 2010 and the couple wed on 22 June 2011. Their daughter was born in April 2012. In 2023, the family moved from Potsdam to Mallorca. In September 2025, the couple announced their separation, and in March 2026, their divorce. Since the separation, Fernandes has been appearing in public as Collien Monica Fernandes. In March 2026, Der Spiegel reported that Fernandes had filed a complaint against her ex-husband Ulmen with the district court in Palma, alleging, among other things, identity-theft, public defamation, and assault. He is alleged to have created fake social media accounts in her name over the course of several years to distribute fake nude photos and videos of her; she felt "virtually raped". Ulmen hired media lawyer Christian Schertz to take legal action against Der Spiegel. Schertz considers the reporting unlawful because it spreads "untrue facts based on a one-sided account". Without commenting on the validity of the allegations in this specific case, Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig, in response to the publication of the allegations against Ulmen, spoke out about existing gaps in criminal liability and called for harsher punishment for perpetrators of digital violence.