Priyanka Chopra ( born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and former Miss World. Before starting her acting career, she worked as a model and gained fame after winning the Miss World title in 2000. She is often referred to by the nickname "Piggy Chops", which was given to her by co-stars on the set of the film Bluffmaster!
Chopra made her acting debut with the 2002 Tamil film Thamizhan. The following year, she made her Bollywood film debut with The Hero: Love Story of a Spy and followed it with the hit Andaaz, for which she won a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. In 2004, she became the second woman to win the Filmfare Best Villain Award, which she received for her critically acclaimed performance in Aitraaz. Chopra would later have commercial success with films like Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004), Krrish (2006) and Don – The Chase Begins Again. In 2008, Chopra received a National Film Award for Best Actress, as well as a Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of a model in Fashion and has thus established herself as one of the leading contemporary actresses in Bollywood.
Chopra was born in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand to Ashok Chopra and Madhu Akhauri, both physicians by profession. Chopra spent her childhood in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh; Newton, Massachusetts; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Her father was in the army and thus her family moved quite frequently. Her father hailed from a family of Punjabi origin, settled in Bareilly and her mother comes from a family settled in Jamshedpur. She also has a brother, Siddharth, who is seven years younger than she is.
Chopra studied at La Martiniere Girls' School in Lucknow as a young girl. She subsequently re-located to the U.S. where she studied in Newton South High School in Newton, Massachusetts and then in John F. Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She returned to India and finished her high school at Army School in Bareilly. She began college at Jai Hind College in Mumbai, but left after winning the Miss World pageant.
Chopra's mother sent in pictures of her for the Miss India contest. When she got called to participate, she was surprised and did it mainly to take a break from studying.She came in second place at the Femina Miss India 2000 competition, winning the Femina Miss India World title. She was subsequently sent to the Miss World pageant, where she was crowned Miss World 2000. In the same year, Lara Dutta and Dia Mirza, both also from India, won the Miss Universe and Miss Asia Pacific crowns respectively, in a rare triple victory for one country. When Chopra won the Miss World crown, she became the fifth Indian woman to win the title, and the fourth Indian woman to win in a span of seven years.
Chopra made her debut in the 2002 Tamil film Thamizhan playing the role of Priya, the love interest of the protaginist in the film played by Vijay. The film was praised for its wit, although the depth of Chopra's character was seen as lacking.Chopra also sang playback in the film, singing "Ullathai Killadhe" along with Vijay. In 2003, she appeared in her first Bollywood film, opposite Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta in the Anil Sharma film The Hero: Love Story of a Spy. She played a supporting role as a doctor named Shaheen in the film that The New York Times described as "ripping its text from the seething border tensions between India and Pakistan, spicing its conflict with hot-tempered religious zealots bent on nuclear havoc". Despite being one of the highest grossing films of that year, the overall film was not well received by critics.Chopra was awarded mostly good reviews for her debut Hindi performance.Later that year she appeared in Raj Kanwar's Andaaz, playing the character of Jiya who falls in love with Raj Malhotra, played by Akshay Kumar. The film was a success at the box office, earning her a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award and a nomination for Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award. Rediff.com said of her role, "Priyanka Chopra alone clicks with the audience, thanks to her skimpy outfits."
Her next few films released in 2004 Plan, Kismat and Asambhav performed poorly at the box office.Later that year she appeared in David Dhawan's romantic comedy Mujhse Shaadi Karogi playing the role of a young fashion designer Rani along with Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. The film turned out to be the third-highest grossing film of that year.She next starred in Abbas-Mustan's thriller Aitraaz. It was her first negative role and her performance was critically acclaimed.She earned a Filmfare Best Villain Award, becoming the second and last female actor to win the award after Kajol (the category has been retired since 2008). She also received a second nomination for Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for the role. Film critic Subhash K. Jha noted, "A star is born! As the predatory social-climbing seductress who can go to any length to satiate her lust for life, Priyanka Chopra rocks the scene like never before. The film is undoubtedly a triumph for Priyanka Chopra. With half a smile, a twitch of her lip and a movement of her eyebrow she seems to slip into her man-eater's role with captivating ease".In 2005, she starred in six films. Four of them, Blackmail, Karam, Yakeen and Barsaat failed to do well.However, her performance in Yakeen garnered good reviews from critics.
Her other two 2005 releases, Waqt: The Race Against Time and Bluffmaster! performed moderately at the box office. In 2006, Chopra starred in two of the most successful films of the year: Krrish, in which she shared the screen with Hrithik Roshan and Rekha, and Don – The Chase Begins Again, alongside Shahrukh Khan which was a remake of the 1978 film Don. She played the character of Roma, a role which was played by Zeenat Aman in the original movie.
In 2007, she appeared in Nikhil Advani's ensemble piece Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute To Love. Despite a promising opening, the movie was a financial failure. Chopra's next release, the much-delayed Big Brother, also underperformed at the box-office. In 2008, Chopra acted in six films. Her first four films, Love Story 2050, God Tussi Great Ho, Chamku and Drona, were critically and commercially unsuccessful.Critics started panning her for choosing the wrong movies and criticising her performances.Still, she was noted for her physical performance in Drona with Rediff writing, "Chopra truly impresses with her convincing action heroine skills."
In early 2011, Chopra appeared in Vishal Bhardwaj's black comedy 7 Khoon Maaf, in which she portrayed the role of an Anglo-Indian woman who murders her seven husbands. Her performance in the film garnered mixed reviews by the critics.She has completed the filming of Farhan Akhtar's Don 2 – The Chase Continues alongside Shahrukh Khan. She has commenced the filming of Anurag Basu's Barfee, and Karan Johar's Agneepath remake,the filming of both being held in back-to-back schedules. Recently, she has also confirmed to be reprising her role in Krrish 2 alongside Hrithik Roshan.
Chopra became a television host with the Colors' reality show Fear Factor – Khatron Ke Khiladi Level 3. She replaced actor Akshay Kumar who hosted the previous two seasons. The show, which premiered on 6 September 2010, beat the opening ratings of the previous two seasons.
Chopra participated in a concert tour titled Temptations 2004 with other Bollywood actors, including Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta and Arjun Rampal. She sang, danced, and performed in skits.She is known to be a fairly good singer. For example, she was offered to do the playback singing of "Tinka Tinka" in Karam (2005). She declined, wanting to concentrate on acting, but later sang the song live on the TV program Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.
On 12 December 2009, she was present as a judge for the Miss World 2009 competition held in Johannesburg, South Africa. She was also appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2010.Chopra continues to do some modelling work, such as appearing for fashion designer Ritu Kumar's collection at HDIL India Couture Week.She has a number of endorsements and is one of the top paid Bollywood actresses in this respect.She has represented brands including Lux, Ponds, Sunsilk, Hero Honda, Nokia, Tag Heuer, J. Hampsted and Virgin Comic.
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