Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka Chopra Biography

Priyanka Chopra is an iconic figure associated with Indian fashion and film industry. She is an international celebrity too with fan followers across the world. She won the prestigious Miss World Beauty pageant in the year 2000, and after that became one of the leading actresses of Bollywood. She is one among the rare models of India who achieved equal success in films, and won a National award for best actress. She won the award in the year 2008 for her outstanding performance in the Bollywood film – Fashion. She was given Padma Shri in 2016 for her contributions to the entertainment world. She is a singer and philanthropist too.

From a struggling Bollywood actress to a leading one, she shot to international fame through her breakthrough performance as the protagonist Alex Parrish in ABC thriller series Quantico (2015). She received huge appreciation and popularity across the world through this single role and she is to mark her debut in Hollywood playing antagonist role in Baywatch, directed by Seth Gordon. In 2016 she walked on Oscar red carpet and also presented the awards for Best Editing. She won ‘Favorite Actress in a New TV Series’ award at People's Choice Awards for her brilliant performance for Quantico.

She was born and brought up in Jamshedpur of present day Jharkhand. Her parents Ashok and Madhu Chopra worked as physicians in the Indian Army. Her father was a Punjabi and her mother is from Jharkhand. She has ancestral roots in Kerala as well, as her maternal mother belonged to a Syrian Christian family of Kumarakom, Kottayam who later married a Hindu from Bihar and settled there. Priyanka has one younger brother, Siddharth. Noted Bollywood actresses Parineeti Chopra, Meera Chopra and Mannara are her cousins. Her childhood days were spent in different parts of North India. At the age of thirteen, Chopra moved to US where she stayed with her aunt and she continued with her studies.

Three years later she moved to India, and started her career as a model. She also participated in beauty pageants. In the year 2000 she participated in Miss India Contest, where she finished as first runner-up. It was a unique year in the history of world fashion when the prominent three international beauty pageants were won by Indian beauties. A rare triple victory for India, India’s Miss India (Lara Dutta) and two runner-ups (Priyanka Chopra and Diya Mirza) won Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss Asia-Pacific titles respectively – a rare phenomenon which has never occurred in the history of international beauty events. Before that Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai have won Miss Universe and Miss World titles the same year - 1994.

Like many beauty pageant winners she too joined film industry. After her screen debut with 2002 Tamil film Thamizhan, she made her Bollywood debut with The Hero: Love Story of a Spy in 2003. Same year she played lead role in the love triangle – Andaaz, which marked the debut of Lara Dutta too. The movie fared well at box office. It was followed by a series of flops. She got her first major breakthrough through David Dhawan’s comedy film - Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, a love triangle, where she shared screen space with Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan. The movie was a major hit in 2004. Same year she shared screen space with Akshay Kumar for the love triangle – Aitraaz (2004), and she was seen in a bold avatar playing antagonist’s role. With three straight hits with Akshay Kumar, there were rumours for a relationship which didn’t go well with Akshay’s wife, Twinkle. After that they have never worked together. She also had a brief relationship with her co-star Shahid Kapoor, with whom she has worked in the movies – Kaminey and Teri Meri Kahaani.

She appeared in numerous films over the years and many of them turned successful. Krish, Don, Fashion, Dostana, Bluff Master etc were among the major hits during the first phase of her career. Year 2008 gave her a major breakthrough. With her sexy avatar in Dostana, she rose to the lead row of Bollywood actresses, and with the film, Fashion, she proved herself to be a talented actress too, the same year. The movie gave her both national awards and Filmfare. There was no turning back after that. After Fashion, she started experimenting with her roles and chose scripts with great care. She played the female lead in highly praised film – Kaminey. She played 12 characters, depicting the signs of the zodiac in What's Your Raashee? and a lady who kills her seven husbands in 7 Khoon Maaf. She received Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for 7 Khoon Maaf (2011). She was seen in the role of a cop in her recent release - Gangaajal 2 (2016).

 Her roles in Barfi! (2012), Mary Kom (2014), Dil Dhadakne Do (2015) and Bajirao Mastani (2015) were well praised for her acting skills and turned out to be big box office hits as well. Agneepath (2012), Don 2 (2011) and Krish 2 (2014) were other major hits. She shared amazing screen chemistry with Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar. A talented actress, she has now debut international scene with the series, Quantico. Till now she has earned about 100 accolades, which include her Miss World 2000 title, one National award and five Filmfare Awards. She is the fifth and last Indian model to win Miss World title.

In 2004 she received Filmfare best debut for the film, Andaaz. She won Filmfare nomination for best actress 5 times for the films -Fashion, Kaminey, 7 Khoon Maaf, Mary Kom and Barfi!, of which she won it for Fashion. She was nominated for supporting actress thrice – Aitraaz, Andaaz and Bajirao Mastani, and she won it for Bajirao Mastani.

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Updated: May 20, 2018