DEEPIKA PADUKONE

Daughter of famous badminton player, Prakash Padukone, Deepika was born on January 5, 1986. She took to modeling at an early age, while still in college and was a supermodel before she turned to acting. Her height, slenderness and fresh looking face have gone a long way in making her a supermodel and stand out from the crowd. During her modeling years, Deepika has been the face for almost all the famous Indian brands such as Liril, Dabur Lal powder, Close-Up and Limca.

She has received many prestigious modeling offers, which included becoming the brand ambassadorship of the Jewels of India. She hit the international scene when cosmetic giants Maybelline made her their international spokesperson. At the 5th annual Kingfisher Fashion Awards she was awarded the title Model of the Year. Shortly afterwards, 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. Deepika was also chosen as the brand ambassador of Kingfisher Airlines and most recently Levi Strauss and Tissot SA.

After pursuing a successful career in modeling, Padukone decided to give acting a chance as well. 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, she made her cinematic debut in the Kannada film, Aishwarya, opposite actor Upendra. But it was her Hindi film debut in Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om in 2007, opposite Shah Rukh Khan, which really saw her arrive in films. Om Shanti Om went on to become the biggest hit of the year, both in India and abroad. Deepika won the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award and was also nominated in the Best Actress category.

She has been modeling appearances in print and television advertising campaigns for Liril, Close-Up toothpaste and Limca, receiving many prestigious modeling offers, including brand ambassadorship of the Jewels of India, an annual jewelery exhibition. She hit the international scene when Maybelline made her their new international cover-girl face.



At the fifth annual Kingfisher Fashion Awards, for Indian models and designers, she was awarded the title of Model of the Year. Shortly after wards, she was chosen as one of the models for the Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar for 2006, thus cementing her reputation as a supermodel. She also bagged two trophies at the Idea Zee F Awards in 2006 - female Model of the year (Commercial Assignments) and Fresh Face of the year.

Deepika has a younger sister named Anisha. IMDb Mini Biography By: Anish Balan (Sunday, October 14, 2007 )

Trivia

Daughter of badminton legend Prakash Padukone.

Her five favorite movies are Kabhi Kabhie - Love Is Life (1976), Dilwale Dulhania Le JayengeRang-e khoda (1999), Cinderella Man (2005), and Mary Poppins (1964). (1995),

Favorite actresses are Hema Malini, Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta, Sushmita Sen, and Juhi Chawla.

Favorite actors are Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Johnny Depp, Richard Gere, Brad Pitt, and Amitabh Bachchan.

Loves music, eating, sleeping, and watching movies.

Plays a little bit of basketball, tennis, throw ball and baseball.

She played state level badminton till the 10th standard. Then she had to study for her ICSE board exams, so she stopped playing for three months. She never considered taking it up as a career because she was never interested in a professional sport. She took up modeling as a hobby, but later realized she wanted to do it professionally.

Attended Sophia High School in Bangalore and later did her undergraduate studies from Mount Carmel College.

Has a younger sister named Anisha who plays all sports, except badminton.

Her mother is a travel agent while her father, a badminton player, played at the international level for India and won the All England Championship in 1980.

Born to Ujjala & Prakash Padukone.

Spokesmodel of Liril, Dabur Lal powder, Close-Up toothpaste, Limca, Jewels of India, Parachute's Advanced Massager, Levi Strauss (India) Pvt. Ltd., and Maybelline.

Indian supermodel.

Favorite Indian designers are Tarun Tahiliani, Manish Malhotra and Rohit Bal.

Her five favorite songs are Kabhi Kabhie Mere Dil Mein from Kabhi Kabhie - Love Is Life (1976), Pehla Nasha from Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (1992), Angel by Lionel Richie, Ankhon Mein Teri Ajab Si from Om Shanti Om (2007), and We Are The World by Michael Jackson.

Deepika's second film, Yash Raj banner's Bachna Ae Haseeno, directed by Siddharth Anand and starring Bipasha Basu, Ranbir Kapoor and Minissha Lamba has just been released. Even though Deepika did not have a big role in the film, but she has been appreciated for her role. Her freshness is very endearing. On the anvil, currently, is Nikhil Advani's Chandni Chowk To China opposite Akshay Kumar and opposite Saif Ali Khan in his maiden home production being directed by Imtiaz Ali. Currently Deepika is seeing Ranbir Kapoor. Her previous liaisons have got her a lot of attention as well, specially her relationship with cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who she broke off with before getting involved with Ranbir. The actress seems to be on a roll as both her professional and personal life are rockingpersonal life are rocking.