Born on January 1, 1978, Vidya Balan aspired to be an actor from a very young age.

Vidya first acted in the popular sitcom Hum Paanch way back in the ‘90s when she was just 16. The actor had quite a few unsuccessful attempts before making it big in Bollywood. Vidya featured in a number of music videos and advertisements before she bagged her first feature film. Her first film as an actor was a Bengali film called Bhalo Theko. After this one, she made her Bollywood debut with Pradeep Sarkar’s musical drama Parineeta opposite Saif Ali Khan. Her performance received a lot of praises and also won her numerous awards at award ceremonies. After this she did Lage Raho Munnabhai, Heyy Babyy, Kismat Konnection though the first one was a great success, she was criticised for her role in the other two films.

In 2009, the Parineeta actor’s career took a complete turn as she delivered five back to back hits. It began with Paa, then the black comedy Ishqiya with Arshad Warsi and Naseeruddin Shah which won a lot of appreciation from the critics. She also did the biographical thriller No One Killed Jessica, followed by The Dirty Picture and Kahaani. Her roles in these films established her as one of the finest actors of Bollywood. The gorgeous actor will soon be seen opposite Farhan Akhtar in Shaadi Ke Side Effects, Bobby Jasoos and Hamari Adhuri Kahaani.