Aishwarya Rai

Date of Birth : 01 Nov 1973

Place of Birth : Mangalore, Karnataka

Biography :

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Birthname: Aishwarya Rai) is an internationally renowned Indian actress. Before starting her acting career, she worked as a model, and gained fame after winning the Miss World contest in 1994. Rai was born in Mangalore, as the daughter of Krishnaraj Rai, a marine biologist, and Vrinda Rai, a writer. Her family belongs to the Bunt community of Mangalore. She has one elder brother, Aditya Rai, who is an engineer in the merchant navy and also co-produced one of Rai's movies, Dil Ka Rishta (2003). Rai made her acting debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film, Iruvar (1997) with Mohanlal and was introduced to Bollywood in the film, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya opposite Bobby Deol, which also released that year; the film didn't do well at the box office. However her third project, S. Shankar's Tamil film Jeans(1998) was a critical and commercial success, earning her the Filmfare Best Actress Award South. She went on to appear in many Bollywood films; a few successful films of her career include Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), which earned the actress her first Filmfare Best Actress Award and Taal(1999), which gave her another nomination for Best Actress at the Filmfare; her performances in both the films were lauded. In 2000, she played a supporting role in the hit films Mohabbatein and Josh. Later that year, she starred in the Tamil film Kandukondain Kandukondain, which won her positive reviews. In 2002, Rai appeared with superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Sanjay Leela Bansali's lavishly produced Devdas. The film attracted overseas attention as well, receiving a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival. It was during this time that she garnered the attention of the West as an Indian actress and went on to appear in a few Hollywood projects. Devdas went on to become the highest grossing film of the year both in India and overseas, earning the actress her second Filmfare Best Actress Award. As her name gained popularity overseas, she was chosen by Time magazine in 2004 as one of the World's "100 Most Influential People", and appeared on the cover of Time magazine, Asia Edition (TIMEasia) in 2003. She was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile on January 2. A month later she appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. She also featured on Oprah's "Women Across the Globe" segment. In 2003, she acted in the critically acclaimed and commercial success Bengali film, Chokher Bali, an adaptation of one of Rabindranath Tagore's novels by the same name. Rai has been a regular at the Cannes Film Festival since 2002, and was a member of the Jury at Cannes in the year 2003. In October 2004, a wax figure of Rai became on display in London's Madame Tussaud's wax museum. The same month, her first foreign film, Bride and Prejudice released. The film was an Indian version of Jane Austen's classic novel Pride and Prejudice. Her next overseas venture was The Mistress of Spices. She then appeared at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, as part of a performance showcasing Indian art, on behalf of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, to be held in New Delhi. In between her overseas acting stints, she appeared in the Indian film Bunty Aur Babli in a hugely popular seven minute dance sequence for the song "Kajra Re". In 2005, Rai signed a three-year contract with L'Oréal, as a spokesmodel for the cosmetics company. At the end of the year 2006, she had two releases: Umrao Jaan and Dhoom 2. While the former did poorly in India, her role in the latter, which was a sequel to the 2004 hit movie Dhoom brought her great attention. The film went on to become the biggest hit of the year and sparked a controversy for a scene containing a kiss between her and Hrithik Roshan, which made audiences uncomfortable. For her performance, she received nominations for Best Actress at a number of award ceremonies, including Filmfare. In 2007 the release of Mani Ratnam's Guru which premiered in Toronto. The film, based on the life of Indian businessman Dhirubhai Ambani, was critically acclaimed and did well at the box office. Her most recent film, Provoked, based on the book "Circle of Light" where she portrays a real life character, was released on April 6, 2007 in India and the UK. At the end of April 2007, her first American film, The Last Legion released in Russia and the Netherlands and later opened in North American theaters in August 2007 disappointingly. She acted in Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodhaa Akbar(2008) opposite Hrithik Roshan. Aishwarya Rai has been offered the role of Yashodhara in an international project titled Buddha. She will be playing the role of Siddhartha’s wife in this English-Hindi bilingual movie. Aishwarya is getting more offers from hollywood Filmmakers as compared to bollywood. And this film will add another feather in the wings of Aishwarya so that she would be able to fly at more height.