PRIYANKA CHOPRA

PRIYANKA CHOPRA was born on 18 July 1982 in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand to Ashok Chopra and Madhu Akhauri, both physicians by profession in Indian Army. Chopra spent 7 years of her childhood in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh; Newton, Massachusetts; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Her father was in the army and thus her family moved quite frequently. Her father hailed from a family of Punjabi origin, settled in Ambala district in the state of Haryana and her mother comes from a family settled in Jamshedpur. She also has a brother, Siddharth, who is seven years younger than her.

Chopra studied at La Martiniere Girls' School in Lucknow as a young girl. She subsequently re-located to the U.S. where she studied in Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts and then in John F. Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She returned to India and finished her high school at Army School in Bareilly. 

She began college at Jai Hind College in Mumbai, but left after winning the Miss World pageant. Chopra's mother sent in pictures of her for the Miss India contest. When she got called to participate, she was surprised and did it mainly to take a break from studying. She came in second place at the Femina Miss India 2000 competition, winning the Femina Miss India World title. She was subsequently sent to the Miss World pageant, where she was crowned Miss World 2000. 

Chopra made her debut in the 2002 Tamil film Thamizhan playing the role of Priya, the love interest of the protaginist in the film played by Vijay. 

In 2003, she appeared in her first Bollywood film, opposite Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta in the Anil Sharma film The Hero: Love Story of a Spy. She played a supporting role as a doctor named Shaheen Her next few films released in 2004 Plan, Kismat and Asambhav performed poorly at the box office. 

Later that year she appeared in David Dhawan's romantic comedy Mujhse Shaadi Karogi playing the role of a young fashion designer Rani along with Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. The film turned out to be the third-highest grossing film of that year. She next starred in Abbas-Mustan's thriller Aitraaz alongside Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor. It was her first negative role and her performance was critically acclaimed.She earned a Filmfare Best Villain Award, becoming the second and last female actor to win the award after Kajol.