DEEPIKA PADUKONE

DEEPIKA PADUKONE was born on 5 January 1986  in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her father, Prakash Padukone, is a former badminton player of international repute, and her mother is a travel agent. Her father was then training in Denmark in the sport and when she was eleven months old, her family moved to Bangalore, Karnataka, India. Padukone also has a younger sister, Anisha.    Padukone   attended Sophia High School in Bangalore, and completed her pre-university studies at Mount Carmel College Bangalore. While in high school she played badminton at the state level. However, she was not keen on pursuing a career as a badminton player.  During the time of her film debut she was enrolled with the Indira Gandhi National Open University in Bachelors of Arts (Sociology). While in college, Padukone pursued a career in modeling.  Over the years, she has modeled for such Indian brand names as Liril, Dabur Lal powder, Close-Up toothpaste and Limca, and has been "brand ambassador" for the Jewels of India retail jewelry show.  The cosmetics company Maybelline made her its international spokesperson. 

At the fifth annual Kingfisher Fashion Awards she was awarded the title "Model of the Year".  Shortly afterward, she was chosen as one of the models for the Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar for 2006 and won two trophies at the Idea Zee Fashion Awards: "Female Model of the Year - (Commercial Assignments)" and "Fresh Face of the Year".  Padukone was also chosen as the brand ambassador of Kingfisher Airlines and later Levi Strauss and Tissot SA.  In addition, she appeared in the music video for Himesh Reshammiya's song Naam Hai Tera.

In 2000, Deepika Padukone did a small cameo appearance in the tamil flick Snegithiye with actress Jothika and Sharbani Mukherjee in the lead, before her cinematic debut in Kannada with Aishwarya opposite Upendra. 

She later made a successful Bollywood debut in 2007 with Farah Khan's blockbuster Om Shanti Om opposite Shahrukh Khan. The film was a re-incarnation melodrama, featuring her in a double role. Her performance was well received, earning the actress a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award as well as her first Filmfare Best Actress nomination. In March 2008, Padukone began dating Ranbir Kapoor, her co-star from the film Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008).  After her high profile break up with  Ranbir Kapoor  in November 2009, Padukone has decided to keep her personal life away from media attention.