Aishwarya Rai

Biography

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan with husband Abhishek Bachchan at the IIFA Awards (2007).

Aishwarya Rai was born in Mangalore to 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 where she attended the Arya Vidya Mandir high school in Santa Cruz. 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.

She can communicate in several languages, including Tulu, Hindi, English, Marathi and Tamil. While pursuing her studies in architecture, Rai began modeling on the side. In the 1994 Miss IndiaMiss 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. 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

Rai has previously dated Bollywood actors Salman Khan and Vivek Oberoi. She is now married to Indian actor Abhishek Bachchan. The wedding took place on 20 April 2007.

Career
Aishwarya Rai in her breakthrough role in the Tamil film, Jeans, her first commercially successful film , which also triumphed her first Filmfare Best Actress award.

Rai made her acting debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film, Iruvar (1997) with Mohanlal, and 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.

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. The film, which portrayed Rai in a dual role, took Rai two years to complete. 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. In 2000, she played a supporting role in the hit films Mohabbatein and Josh. Later that year, she starred in the Tamil film Kandukondain Kandukondain, which won her positive reviews.