Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Kannada: ಐಶ್ವರ್ಯಾ ರೈ, born November 1, 1973) is an Indian actress. Before starting her career as an actress, she worked as a model, and gained fame after winning the Miss World contest in 1994.

Rai made her movie debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film, Iruvar (1997). She had her first critical and commercial success in the Hindi movie, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), which was directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. She successfully performed again in Bhansali's Devdas (2002). Since then, she has acted in nearly forty movies in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, and English, including the international movies, Bride & Prejudice (2003) and The Last Legion (2007) in English.Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Career
3 Filmography
4 See also
5 References
6 External links


[edit]
Biography

Rai with husband Abhishek Bachchan at the India Splendor event in Los Angeles (2007).

Rai was born in Mangalore as the daughter of Krishnaraj Rai, a marine biologist, and Vrinda Rai, a writer. Her family belongs to the Bunt community of Mangalore. She has one elder brother, Aditya Rai, who is an engineer in the merchant navy and also co-produced one of Rai's movies, Dil Ka Rishta (2003).

After she was born, her parents moved to Mumbai (Bombay) where she attended the Arya Vidya Mandir high school in Santacruz. Rai then entered Jai Hind College at Churchgate for one year, and then moved to Ruparel College in Matunga to finish her "HSC" studies. She did well in school and planned to become an architect.

While pursuing her studies in architecture, Rai began modeling on the side. In the 1994 Miss India contest, she won the second place (behind Sushmita Sen), and went on to win the Miss World title the same year where she also won the Miss Photogenic award. She abandoned her studies after winning the pageant and spent one year reigning as Miss World in London. Rai then started working as a professional model and then moved on to her current profession as an actress.

Rai is married to Indian actor Abhishek Bachchan, who is the son of Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan. The marriage took place on April 20, 2007.

[edit]
Career

Making her debut with Mani Ratnam's Tamil film, Iruvar (1997) with Mohanlal,[1] she was introduced to Bollywood in the film, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya opposite Bobby Deol, which also released that year; the film didn't do well at the box office.[2] However, her third project, S. Shankar's Tamil film, Jeans (1998) was a critical and commercial success, earning her the Filmfare Best Actress Award South.

She went on to appear in many Bollywood films; a few successful films of her career include Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), which earned the actress her first Filmfare Best Actress Award and Taal (1999), which gave her another nomination for Best Actress at the Filmfare; her performances in both the films were lauded.[3] In 2000, she played a supporting role in the hit films Mohabbatein and Josh. Later that year, she also starred in the Tamil film Kandukondain Kandukondain, which won her positive reviews.

In 2002, Rai appeared with superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Sanjay Leela Bansali's lavishly produced Devdas. The film attracted overseas attention as well, receiving a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival.[4] It was during this time that she garnered the attention of the West as an Indian actress and went on to appear in a few Hollywood projects. Devdas went on to become the highest grossing film of the year both in India[5] and overseas,[6] earning her the actress her second Filmfare Best Actress Award.

As her name gained popularity overseas, she was chosen by Time magazine in 2004 as one of the World's "100 Most Influential People", and appeared on the cover of Time magazine, Asia Edition (TIMEasia) in 2003. She was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile on January 2. A month later she appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. She also featured on Oprah's "Women Across the Globe" segment. In 2003, she acted in the critically acclaimed and commercial success Bengali film, Chokher Bali, an adaptation of one of Rabindranath Tagore's novels by the same name.

Rai has been a regular at the Cannes Film Festival since 2002, and was a member of the Jury at Cannes in the year 2003. In October 2004, a wax figure of Rai became on display in London's Madame Tussaud's wax museum.[7] The same month, her first foreign film, Bride and Prejudice released. The film was an Indian version of Jane Austen's classic novel Pride and Prejudice. Her next overseas venture was The Mistress of Spices. She then appeared at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, as part of a performance showcasing Indian art, on behalf of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, to be held in New Delhi. In between her overseas acting stints, she appeared in the Indian film Bunty Aur Babli in a hugely popular seven minute dance sequence for the song "Kajra Re".

In 2005, Rai signed a three-year contract with L'Oréal, as a spokesmodel for the cosmetics company.

At the end of the year 2006, she had two releases: Umrao Jaan and Dhoom 2. The former did poorly in India but her role in the latter, which was a sequel to the 2004 hit movie Dhoom brought her great attention. While it was a hit commercially,[8] it also sparked a controversy for a scene containing a kiss between her and Hrithik Roshan, which made audiences uncomfortable; a court case is currently pending in India.[9]

2007 saw the release of Mani Ratnam's Guru which premiered in Toronto. The film, based on the life of Indian businessman Dhirubhai Ambani, was critically acclaimed and did well at the box offic.[10] Her most recent film, Provoked, based on the book "Circle of Light" where she portrays a real life character, was released on April 6, 2007 in India and the UK. At the end of April 2007, her first American film, The Last Legion released in Russia and the Netherlands and later opened in North American theaters in August 2007 disappointingly.

[edit]
Filmography
Main article: List of Aishwarya Rai's awards and nominationsYear Title Language Role Notes
1997 Iruvar Tamil Pushpa/Kalpana Dubbed in Telugu as Iddaru
Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya Hindi Ashi Kapoor
1998 Jeans Tamil Madhumitha/Vaishnavi Winner, Filmfare Best Actress Award South
India's official entry to the Oscars
Dubbed in Hindi and Telugu as Jeans
1999 Aa Ab Laut Chalen Hindi Pooja
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam Hindi Nandini Winner, Filmfare Best Actress Award
Ravoyi Chandamama Telugu Special appearance
Taal Hindi Mansi Nominated, Filmfare Best Actress Award
Dubbed in Tamil as Taalam
2000 Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke Hindi Sahiba Grewal
Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai Hindi Preeti Virat Nominated, Filmfare Best Actress Award
Josh Hindi Shirley
Kandukondain Kandukondain Tamil Meenakshi Bala
Mela Hindi Champakali Special appearance
Mohabbatein Hindi Megha Nominated, Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award
Sanam Tere Hain Hum Hindi Special appearance
2001 Albela Hindi Sonia
2002 23rd March 1931: Shaheed Hindi Cameo
Devdas Hindi Parvati (Paro) Winner, Filmfare Best Actress Award
India's official entry to the Oscars
Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin Hindi Komal Rastogi
Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam Hindi Suman Cameo
Shakti: The Power Hindi Aishwarya Rai Special appearance (item number)
2003 Chokher Bali Bengali Binodhini
Dil Ka Rishta Hindi Tia Sharma
Kuch Naa Kaho Hindi Namrata Shrivastav
2004 Bride & Prejudice English Lalita Bakshi
Khakee Hindi Mahalakshmi First villain role
Kyun...! Ho Gaya Na Hindi Diya Malhotra
Raincoat Hindi Neerja Nominated, Filmfare Best Actress Award
2005 Bunty Aur Babli Hindi Special appearance (item number)
Shabd Hindi Antara Vashist
2006 Mistress of Spices English Tilo
Umrao Jaan Hindi Umrao Jaan
Dhoom 2 Hindi Sunehri Nominated, Filmfare Best Actress Award
2007 Guru Hindi Sujata
Provoked English Kiranjeet Ahluwalia
The Last Legion English Mira
2008 Jodhaa Akbar Hindi Jodhaa Bai Releasing February 15, 2008
Sarkar Raj Hindi Neha Releasing April 2008
2009 The Pink Panther Deux English Sophie Solandres Releasing February 13, 2009


[edit]
See also
List of Indian movie actressesAwards
Filmfare Award
Preceded by
Kajol
for Minsaara Kanavu Best Actress (Tamil)
for Jeans
1999 Succeeded by
Ramya Krishnan
for Padayappa
Preceded by
Kajol
for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai Best Actress
for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
2000 Succeeded by
Karisma Kapoor
for Fiza
Preceded by
Kajol
for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham Best Actress
for Devdas
2003 Succeeded by
Preity Zinta
for Kal Ho Naa Ho