AISHWARYA RAI

The Queen Bee of Bollywood, Aishwarya Rai was a model before she made her acting debut in the Tamil movie Iruvar. Born on November 1, 1973 in Mangalore, Karnataka, Aishwarya Rai was into modeling from a young age. She appeared in advertisements for reputed brands like Garden Sarees, Pepsi etc.

She was the Miss World in 1994. Her first Hindi movie was Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya. Though the film did not do well at the box office, her subsequent films were hits. Aishwarya won the Filmfare award in 1999 for her splendid performance in the movie Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. In 2003, she became the first Indian actor to be a part of the jury at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Her first English language movie was Gurinder Chadha's Bride & Prejudice in 2004. She was the first Indian woman whose wax model was put up at the Madame Tussaud's wax museum in London. Some of her all-time greats include Guru (2007), Dhoom 2 (2006), Chokher Bali (2003), Dil Ka Rishta (2003), Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin (2002) , Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam (2002), Devdas (2002), Albela (2001), Mohabbatein (2000), Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke (2000) , Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai (2000), Josh (2000), Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000), Ravoyi Chandamama (1999), Taal (1999) , Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), Aa Ab Laut Chalen (1999) , Jeans (1998) , Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997) and Iruvar (1997).

She was chosen in 2004 by TIME Magazine as one of Asia's In February 2005, she appeared on the "100 Most Influential People.""Late Night Show with David Letterman" and in April 2005, she appeared on Oprah Winfrey's "Women Across the Globe" segment. Besides, she has appeared in covers of numerous magazines in various countries like USA, UK, China, Russia, Israel and France. After Bride and Prejudice, she starred in another overseas movie Mistress of Spices based on the novel by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and directed by Paul Mayeda Berges in 2006.