Preity Zinta

Preity G Zinta (pronounced ; born 31 January 1975) is an Indian entrepreneur and actress primarily known for her work in Hindi films.

Preity Zinta was born on 31 January 1975 into a Hindu Rajput family from Shimla district, Himachal Pradesh.

Her father, Durganand Zinta, was an officer in the Indian Army.

He died in a car accident when she was thirteen; the accident also involved her mother, Nilprabha, who was severely injured and consequently remained bedridden for two years.

Zinta called the tragic accident and her father's death a significant turning point in her life, which forced her to mature rapidly.

She has two brothers; Deepankar and Manish, a year older and a year younger, respectively.

Deepankar is a commissioned officer in the Indian Army, while Manish lives in California.

Zinta, who describes herself as having been a tomboy as a child, has emphasised her father's military background as having given her a lasting impression on how family life was to be conducted.

He asserted the importance of discipline and punctuality to the children.

She studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary boarding school in Shimla.

Although she confesses to loneliness in the boarding school, she noted that it was compensated by her finding a "...perfect set of friends" there.

As a student, she developed a love for literature, particularly the works of William Shakespeare and poetry.

According to Zinta, she enjoyed schoolwork and received good grades; in her free time she played sports, especially basketball.

After her schooling at Convent of Jesus and Mary, Shimla, Zinta enrolled at St. Bede's College in Shimla, a branch of Himachal Pradesh University.

She graduated with an English honours degree, and then started a graduate programme in psychology.

She earned a postgraduate degree in criminal psychology, but later took up modelling.

Zinta's first television commercial was for Perk chocolates, the result of a chance meeting with a director at a friend's birthday party in 1996.

The director persuaded Zinta to audition for the spot, and she was selected.

Afterwards, she appeared in other catalogues and commercials, including one for the soap Liril.

In 1997, Zinta met Shekhar Kapur when she accompanied a friend to an audition in Mumbai, and was asked if she would audition too.

Upon seeing her audition, Kapur insisted that she become an actress.

She was originally scheduled to make her screen debut in Kapur's Tara Rum Pum Pum opposite Hrithik Roshan, but the filming was cancelled.

She reminisced the experience: "I began to recognise the power of destiny. I had no intention ever to be an actress."

After graduating with degrees in English honours and criminal psychology, Zinta made her acting debut in Dil Se.. in 1998, followed by a role in Soldier in the same year.

Kapur later recommended her for director Mani Ratnam's Dil Se.. (1998), a romantic thriller about a terrorist group in New Delhi.

Zinta often recalls that when she joined the film industry her friends teased her that she would typically "wear white saris and dance in the rain", thereby motivating her to play different parts.

The delay of another film, Soldier (1998), meant that her first release was Dil Se.. opposite Shahrukh Khan and Manisha Koirala.

These performances earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut, and she was later recognised for her role as a teenage single mother in Kya Kehna (2000).

She subsequently established a career as a leading actress of Hindi cinema with a variety of character types.

Her roles, often deemed culturally defiant, along with her unconventional screen persona have been credited with contributing to a change in the concept of Indian film heroines, and won her several accolades.

Zinta commenced shooting for Kundan Shah's Kya Kehna, whose release was delayed until 2000.

Following critically appreciated roles in Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (2001), Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Dil Hai Tumhaara (2002), and Armaan (2003), Zinta received the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003).

She starred in two consecutive annual top-grossing films in India, Koi... Mil Gaya (2003) and Veer-Zaara (2004), and was noted for her portrayal of independent, modern Indian women in Salaam Namaste (2005) and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), top-grossing productions in domestic and overseas markets.

Between 2004 and 2005, she wrote a series of columns for BBC News Online South Asia.

These controversies include her being the sole witness not to retract in court her earlier statements against the Indian mafia during the 2004 Bharat Shah case, for which she was awarded the Godfrey Phillips National Bravery Award.

For her first international role in the Canadian drama Heaven on Earth (2008) she was awarded the Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress and nominated for the Genie Award for Best Actress.

She is the founder of the production company PZNZ Media, a co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Punjab Kings since 2008, and the owner of the South-African T20 Global League cricket team Stellenbosch Kings since 2017.

Zinta is known in the Indian media for publicly speaking her mind, and consequently has sparked the occasional controversy.

She followed this with a hiatus from acting work for several years, with the exception of her self-produced comeback film, Ishkq in Paris (2013), which failed to leave a mark.

Zinta is also a social activist, television presenter and stage performer.