VIDYA BALAN

Vidya Balan born on 1 January 1978 is an Indian actress, who appears in Hindi films. Vidya Balan was born in Ottapalam, Palakkad District, Kerala. She was born to P.R. Balan who was the Vice President of ETC Channel and her mother is a housewife in a Tamil speaking Palakkad Iyer family. According to Vidya Balan, they speak at home a mix of Malayalam and Tamil, but she is also well versed in Hindi, English and Bengali.

Vidya Balan did her schooling at St. Anthony’s Girls High School, Chembur, Mumbai, and later attended St. Xavier’s College where she specialized in Sociology. Vidya Balan went on to study MA at the University of Mumbai, when she got her first film offer.

Her acting career started when she signed up for the Malayalam film Chakram, alongside Mohanlal but the film was dropped. After that, Vidya Balan signed for the Tamil movie Run, but for reasons undisclosed, she dropped after a first schedule and replaced by Meera Jasmine. She then turned to television advertising. From 1998 onwards, she appeared in many ads. Vidya Balan also took supporting roles in music videos, appearing with brands and singers such as Euphoria, Shubha Mudgal and Pankaj Udhas. In 2003, Vidya Balan made her movie debut in the Bengali film. Vidya Balan later made her Hindi film debut with Parineeta (2005), which earned her a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut as well as her Best Actress nomination at the same category. She subsequently essayed a variety of character roles, receiving her first commercial success with Rajkumar’s Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006). Vidya Balan subsequently appeared in such films such as Guru, Heyy Babyy and Bhool Bhualiya (2008), the latter earning her another Filmfare nomination.

In 2009 she appeared as a single mother of a child suffering from progeria in the movie Paa, her performance in which ultimately won her a Best Actress award at Filmfare, 2010 saw the release of Ishqiya, starring Vidya Balan in a role for which she was praised and awarded, and she followed it with her first real-life character in the movie No One Killed Jessica.