Kareena Kapoor

Kareena Kapoor was born on 21 September 1980 in Mumbai to Randhir Kapoor and Babita. Both her parents were prominent actors though her mother stopped acting after marriage. She has one elder sister, Karisma. She is of Punjabi descent on her father’s side and of Sindhi and British descent on her mother’s.

Being born into a family with a rich legacy in films, the girl was exposed to the show business at an early age. She was much inspired by actresses, such as Meena Kumari and Nargis, and wanted to become an actress herself on growing up.

Her father, however, did not want his daughters to enter films. His conservative attitude led to a conflict between her parents and they separated. Kareena and her sister went to live with their mother who worked several jobs in order to support the family. Eventually Karisma became an actress, further motivating her younger sister to follow in her footsteps.

Kareena went to Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai, followed by Welham Girls' School in Dehradun. She was not inclined towards academics but studied well in order to satisfy her mother.

She then studied commerce for two years at Mithibai College before joining a three-month summer course in microcomputers at Harvard Summer School in the United States.

Kareena Kapoor made her debut in ‘Refugee’, a war film, in 2000. Aged 19 at that time, she played the role of a Bangladeshi girl who falls in love with a refugee, portrayed by Abhishek Bachchan. The film was a moderate hit and earned the young actress much acclaim.

In 2001, she starred opposite Tusshar Kapoor in Satish Kaushik's movie ‘Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai.’ The movie was a hit and heralded Kapoor as a young and upcoming actress to reckon with. The same year, she shared the big screen with superstars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, and Kajol in the film ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...’

Early in her career, she also suffered a major setback when several of her films failed to perform well at the box office. Within a span of two years, six of her films—‘Mujhse Dosti Karoge!,’ ‘Jeena Sirf Merre Liye,’ ‘Talaash: The Hunt Begins...,’ ‘Khushi,’ ‘Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon,’ and ‘LOC Kargil’—flopped.

By the mid-2000s, she had played the stereotypical role of a pretty but superficial girl in a number of films. Determined to avoid being typecast and break the mold, she took up the challenging role of a sex worker in the film ‘Chameli’ (2004). This role helped her reinvent her on-screen persona.

In 2006, she acted in three films, ‘36 China Town,’ ‘Chup Chup Ke,’ and ‘Omkara.’ The following year, she played a bubbly girl, ‘Geet,’ in the romantic comedy film, ‘Jab We Met,’ which also starred Shahid Kapoor.

Kareena Kapoor is actively involved in a number of philanthropic endeavors. She began working with UNICEF in 2014 to advocate the education of girls and increase quality based education in India. She has also been an ambassador for the Shakti Campaign, a project launched by NDTV to combat violence against women.