Priyanka Chopra

Although she has been romantically linked several times with her co-actors, including Shahid Kapoor and Harman Baweja, she still maintains her single status.

Priyanka Chopra was born on July 18, 1982 in Jamshedpur, India, to Ashok Chopra, and Madhu Chopra. Both her parents were physicians in the Indian Army. She has a younger brother, Siddharth.

As her father was in army, he frequently got transferred. As a result, Priyant spent her childhood in cities such as Delhi, Pune, Lucknow, Bareilly, and Ladakh. She received her education from several schools including La Martiniere Girls' School, Lucknow and St. Maria Goretti College, Bareilly.

At the age of 13, she was sent to United States to pursue higher education. Here she lived with her aunt. In the USA, Priyanka attended schools in Newton, Massachusetts, Iowa and New York, as her aunt's family also moved frequently.

Apart from academics, she participated in several theatre productions and also learnt Western classical music, choral singing and Kathak dance. However, she wanted to become a software engineer or a criminal psychologist, rather than a performer.

Later, she returned to India and finished the senior year of her high-school education from the Army Public School, Bareilly. During this time, she also won the local ‘May Queen’ beauty pageant.

She entered the Femina Miss India 2000 contest where she finished second, winning the Femina Miss India World title. She then went on to represent India in the Miss World pageant, where she was crowned ‘Miss World 2000’.

In 2002, she made her big screen debut in the Tamil film, ‘Thamizhan’. The following year, she made her debut in a Bollywood film as the second female lead in the movie ‘The Hero: Love Story of a Spy’.

Later in 2003, she starred in the love triangle ‘Andaaz’, alongside Akshay Kumar. Her role in this movie was noted for the glamour quotient she added to the film.

In 2004, she starred in the romantic comedy, ‘Mujhse Shaadi Karogi’ which proved to be a big commercial success. The same year, she also starred in the thriller ‘Aitraaz’, portraying her first role as an antagonist and received much critical acclaim for her performance.

In 2005, she appeared in two successful ventures, ‘Waqt: The Race Against Time’ and ‘Bluffmaster’.

Priyanka Chopra received critical acclaim for her role of Jhilmil Chatterjee, an autistic woman, in the movie ‘Barfi!’ (2012). Several critics regarded it as the best performance of her career and one of the most flawless interpretations of a physical-psychological disability being presented on big screen.