Deepika Padukone (Kannada: ದೀಪಿಕಾ ಪಡುಕೋಣೆ), born January 5, 1986) is an Indian supermodel turned actress who appears in Bollywood movies.


Biography

Padukone was born to Ujjala and Prakash Padukone on January 5, 1986 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her family moved to Bangalore when she was only eleven months old. Her father Prakash Padukone is a badminton player of international repute, while her mother is a travel agent. Padukone also has a younger sister named Anisha and is a trained Bharatnatyam dancer.

Padukone attended Sophia High School in Bangalore. She completed her studies from Mount Carmel College. While in high school she played badminton at the state level like her father and was a member of her father's badminton club. However, she wasn't keen on pursuing a career as a badminton player and abandoned it because of her ICSE exams.

Modeling

While pursuing her studies in college, she decided to pursue a career in modeling due to her tall and slender figure. Over the years, she has modeled for famous Indian brand names such as Liril, Dabur Lal powder, Close-Up toothpaste and Limca. She received many prestigious modeling offers, which included becoming the brand ambassadorship of the Jewels of India. Padukone hit the international scene when Maybelline made her their new international spokesperson.

At the 5th annual Kingfisher Fashion Awards she was awarded the title Model of the Year. Shortly afterward, she was chosen as one of the models for the Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar for 2006 and won two trophies at the Idea Zee Fashion Awards: Female Model of the Year - (Commercial Assignments) and Fresh Face of the Year later that year. Padukone was also chosen as the brand ambassador of Kingfisher Airlines and most recently Levi Strauss and Tissot SA.

Acting

After pursuing a successful career in modeling, Padukone branched out into acting. She started by starring in the music video for the song Naam Hai Tera from the independent pop album Aap Kaa Surroor by Himesh Reshammiya.

In 2006, Padukone made her cinematic debut in the Kannada film, Aishwarya staring opposite actor Upendra. She later made a successful Bollywood debut in 2007 with Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om opposite Shahrukh Khan. The film went on to become the biggest hit of the year, both in India and abroad. The film featured her portraying Shantipriya - a 1970s superstar, and later as Sandy - a young woman who looks exactly like Shantipriya. Her performance was well received, earning the actress a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award as well as her first Filmfare Best Actress nomination. Taran Adarsh from indiaFM noted, "Deepika has all it takes to be a top star -- the personality, the looks and yes, she's supremely talented too. Standing in the same frame as SRK and getting it right is no small achievement. She comes as a whiff of fresh air!"

Padukone is currently working on Siddharth Anand's Bachna Ae Haseeno opposite Ranbir Kapoor and Nikhil Advani's Chandni Chowk To China opposite Akshay Kumar.