Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan ( Rai; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress who is primarily known for her work in Hindi and Tamil films.

Aishwarya Rai was born on 1 November 1973 into a Tulu-speaking Hindu family in Mangalore, Karnataka.

In 1991, Aishwarya Rai won an international supermodel contest, which led to her being featured in the American edition of Vogue magazine.

In 1993, she gained wide public recognition for her appearance in a Pepsi commercial with actors Aamir Khan and Mahima Chaudhry.

Her single line of dialogue "Hi, I'm Sanjana" became popular.

Rai Bachchan won the Miss World 1994 pageant and later established herself as one of the most-popular and influential celebrities in India.

She was then crowned Miss World 1994, made her acting debut in Mani Ratnam's 1997 Tamil film Iruvar and had her Hindi film debut in Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya that year.

In the 1994 Miss India pageant, Rai won second place behind Sushmita Sen and was crowned Miss India World, also winning the titles Miss Catwalk, Miss Miraculous, Miss Photogenic, Miss Perfect Ten and Miss Popular.

As first runner-up, Rai's duties included representing India in the rival Miss World pageant in Sun City, South Africa.

She went on to win the pageant, and the Miss Photogenic award and Miss World Continental Queen of Beauty − Asia and Oceania.

After winning Miss World, Rai said she dreamt of world peace an that she wanted to be an ambassador of peace during her one-year reign in London.

Rai continued to model until she became an actress.

Prior to participating in beauty pageants, Rai had received four offers to star in movies but she "decided to participate in Miss India to step back from the film industry for a bit. If I hadn't taken part in Miss India, Raja Hindustani would have been my first film."

Rai's first commercial success was the Tamil romantic drama Jeans (1998), which at the time was the most expensive Indian film.

She achieved wider success, and won two Filmfare Awards for Best Actress for her performances in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's romantic dramas Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Devdas (2002).

In the 2000s and 2010s, media often called Rai Bachchan "the most beautiful woman in the world".

While in college, Rai modelled and appeared in several television commercials, and entered the Miss India pageant, in which she was placed second.

Rai garnered critical appreciation for portraying a passionate artist in Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000), a seductive widow in Chokher Bali (2003), an unhappily married woman in Raincoat (2004), Kiranjit Ahluwalia in Provoked (2006), and a nurse in Bhansali's Guzaarish (2010).

Her greatest commercial successes have been the romantic dramas Mohabbatein (2000) and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016), the adventure film Dhoom 2 (2006), the biographical drama Guru (2007), the science-fiction film Enthiran (2010), and the period films Jodhaa Akbar (2008), Ponniyin Selvan: I (2022) and Ponniyin Selvan: II (2023).

In 2003, Rai Bachchan was the first Indian female actor to be a juror at Cannes Film Festival.

Rai's movie Dil Ka Rishta (2003) was co-produced by her brother and co-written by her mother.

Rai has been fluent in Tulu, Hindi and English since childhood.

The family later moved to Mumbai due to her father's job transfer.

There, Rai attended the Arya Vidya Mandir High School.

Describing her desire to maintain a good academic standing, Rai said:

I've always got a first rank except for my seventh grade mid-term when I stood second.

I'm not saying I was egoistic, but there was a certain level of confidence in me.

Rai married actor Abhishek Bachchan in 2007; the couple have one daughter.

Rai Bachchan's off-screen roles include a brand ambassador for several charity organisations; she is a Goodwill Ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Rai Bachchan has received numerous accolades for her acting and in 2009, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri and in 2012, the Government of France awarded her with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

When I came to the 10th grade, my seniors, my juniors, everybody thought I'd top the ICSE board exams.

But I came seventh or eighth in class and that was a huge ego blow.

It really hurt because I had not valued my first rank until then.

Rai had her intermediate schooling at Jai Hind College for a year and then enrolled at D. G. Ruparel College in Matunga, securing 90 percent in the Higher Secondary (School) Certificate (HSC) exams.

Rai trained in classical dance and music for five years during her teens and showed interest in traditional dance forms, including Bharatanatyam.

Her favourite subject was zoology and she initially considered a career in medicine.

Planning to become an architect, Rai enrolled at Rachana Sansad Academy of Architecture, but later gave up her education to pursue a career in modelling.

Long before her rise to prominence, a photograph of Rai at college went viral, and photographers Gautam Rajadhyaksha and Farrokh Chothia contacted her to appear in advertisements.

Her father Krishnaraj, who died on 18 March 2017, was an army biologist andher mother Vrinda is a housewife.

Aishwarya Rai has one elder brother Aditya Rai, who is an engineer in the merchant navy.