Deepika Padukone

Deepika Padukone- 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 ICSE 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.

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

At the 5th annual Kingfisher Fashion Awards she was awarded the title of 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. 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 a career 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 contemporary teenager. 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 india FM 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 Haseenon opposite Ranbir Kapoor and Nikhil Advani's Chandni Chowk To China opposite Akshay Kumar.

Awards & nominations

Filmfare Awards
Winner
2008: Filmfare Best Female Debut Award; Om Shanti Om
2008: Sony Head N Shoulders Fresh Face of the Year Award; Om Shanti Om

Nominated
2008: Filmfare Best Actress Award; Om Shanti Om[

Star Screen Awards
Winner
2008: Star Screen Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female; Om Shanti Om
2008: Star Screen Award Jodi No. 1 along with Shahrukh Khan; Om Shanti Om

Zee Cine Awards
Winner
2008: Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut; Om Shanti Om

Nominated
2008: Zee Cine Award for Best Actor - Female; Om Shanti Om

Stardust Awards
Nominated
2008: Stardust Superstar of Tomorrow - Female; Om Shanti Om

Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards
Winner
2008: Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards' Best Female Debut; Om Shanti Om

Other Awards
2007: Star's Sabsey Favourite Kaun Awards, Sabsey Favourite Nayi Heroine; Om Shanti Om
2007: HT Café Film Awards, Best Newcomer Award (Female); Om Shanti Om
2008: Reebok Zoom Glam Awards, Glam Debutant (Female); Om Shanti Om
2008: Annual Central European Bollywood Awards, Breakthrough Role (Female); Om Shanti Om