Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been married to actor Abhishek Bachchan since April 2007. They have one daughter, Aaradhya Bachchan, who was born in 2011.

Abhishek Bachchan is the son of actors Jaya Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan. Aishwarya and Abhishek costarred in Guru (2007), in which she played Sujata Desai opposite his character, Gurukant Desai.

Before acting, Rai built a modeling career and appeared in advertisements for major brands. She participated in a Ford Motor Company international supermodel contest in 1991, which led to an appearance in the American edition of Vogue.

She finished as first runner-up in the 1994 Miss India pageant and won the Miss World title that same year. Her modeling profile also grew through a widely remembered PepsiCo commercial with Aamir Khan and Mahima Chaudhry, as well as campaigns for brands including L'Oréal, Longines, Revlon, Lakmé, Cadbury, and Titan.

Rai received formal training in bharata natyam, an Indian classical dance form. Her dance training later became an important part of her screen performances.

Rai made her film debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film Iruvar in 1997 and entered Bollywood the same year with ...Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya. Her breakthrough came with the Tamil film Jeans (1998), followed by prominent roles in Taal (1999), Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), and Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000).

She won the Filmfare Award for best actress for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. In Devdas (2002), also directed by Bhansali, she played Paro, the jilted lover in the adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel. The film became one of Bollywood's most successful productions and received a special screening at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

Her dance performances became particularly prominent in films such as Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas, and Bunty Aur Babli (2005). In “Kajra Re,” she performed alongside Amitabh Bachchan, her future father-in-law.

Rai expanded into international cinema with Bride and Prejudice (2004), directed by Gurinder Chadha. She played Lalita Bakshi, an Indian counterpart to Elizabeth Bennet, in the English-language adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Her international credits also included The Mistress of Spices, Provoked, The Last Legion, and The Pink Panther 2.

She made her Cannes Film Festival debut in 2002 at the premiere of Devdas. In 2003 she became the first Indian actress to serve as a Cannes jury member, and she later became a global ambassador for L'Oréal, leading to repeated appearances at the festival.

Rai's major later Hindi films included Dhoom 2 (2006), Guru (2007), Jodhaa Akbar (2008), and Guzaarish (2010). She took a break from acting after giving birth to her daughter in 2011 and returned with Jazbaa in 2015, followed by Sarbjit (2016), Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016), and Fanney Khan (2018).

Rai won a second Filmfare Award for best actress for her performance as Paro in Devdas. She received the Padma Shri in 2009 for her contribution to Indian cinema.

She reunited with Mani Ratnam for Ponniyin Selvan: Part I (2022) and Ponniyin Selvan: Part Two (2023). In the two-part Tamil epic, she played the dual roles of Nandini and Mandakini. Her performance in Ponniyin Selvan: Part Two earned her the 2024 South Indian International Movie Award for best actress in a leading role.