"The Most Beautiful Woman in the World"

The reigning Queen of Bollywood Aishwarya Rai came into this world on November 1, 1973 in Mangalore, Karnataka, India. Born to Krishnaraj and Vrinda Rai, she has one sibling, brother Aditya. Measuring in at 5'7, Aishu, as she is affectionately called is fluent in English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil and Urdu.

Looking to start a career in architecture, she entered modeling as her part-time job. Blessed with beauty including her dazzling blue-green eyes, prestigious firms including Pepsi took her on. She was crowned Miss World in 1994 after placing runner-up in the Miss India competition. Still wanting to become an architect, she refused any offers for film roles. But soon the inevitable happened. After appearing in Vogue Magazine, India's top Bollywood directors were clamoring to have Ash as part of their star casts. Thus, in 1997 her relationship with the silver screen and celluloid began with Mani Rathnam's critically acclaimed film 'Iruvar'. Within the same year, she won the Best Female Debutante Award for her performance in Rahul Rawail's 'Aur Paar Ho Gaya'.

She became an instant favorite in Southern Indian cinema too; with her performance in the 1998 film 'Jeans', where she took on the double roles of Madhumita/Veishnavi. Her second Southern film, Kandukondain Kandukondain in 2000 also endeared her to the masses when she so brilliantly portrayed the character Meenakshi.

2000 continued to be her year, as she bagged a whopping eight awards for her performance as Nandini
opposite veteran actors Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan in 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam', including the coveted Filmfare Award for best actress. She also won Zee Gold Best Actress Award for her outstanding performance in 'Taal'. Even her special appearance in Aditya Chopra's 'Mohabbatein' won her accolades, as she was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Award and won BWSX Fantasy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Megha to Shah Rukh Khan's Raj. Her performance as a rape victim in 'Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai' won her rave reviews as well and in 2001 she was nominated for Filmfare's Best Actress Award but it eluded her this time. Three other non-film awards were bestowed upon Ash that year too, Zee Lux Face of the Year, Most Beautiful International Titleholder of All Times Gold medal winner and Most Beautiful Miss World of All Times for a perfect score of 9.911.

The Rajiv Gandhi Award became hers in 2002. But that was only the beginning of what the year held out to her. After her success in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam', Ash was in the right place at the right time to work with him again in the most ambitious and successful film in the history of Bollywood - 'Devdas'. It broke all box-office records not only in India but in the United States as well and became the first Bollywood picture to ever receive a special screening at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. She magnificently and brilliant embodied the role of Paro, opposite Shah Rukh Khan as the ultimate Devdas and left the audiences gasping and wanting more of Miss Rai. She received four awards that year for this role; Race, Screen and Zee Cine Best Actress Awards and Screen Jodi No.1 Award (No. 1 Couple Award) with Shahrukh Khan. The year was complete when she won the True Indian Actress Award.

After such success so far, nothing was going to slow this raving beauty down and the year of 2003 proved that nicely. The opportunities were rolling in faster than Ash could reply to them. Magazine all over the world wanted Aishwarya to grace their covers. She appeared on a countless number of them, including India Today and Time Magazine, even being listed on Time's list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World Today". Rolling Stones put her on their annual "Hot List". She joined the ranks of the elite members of the L'Oreal Dream Team as their international ambassador and became the first Indian actor to be a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

In 2004 Aishwarya was named World's Most Attractive Woman by HELLO! Magazine and she took on the leading role in her first English language film for Gurinder Chadha in "Bride & Prejudice". She also became the first Indian female to be immortalized in wax at the world famous Madame Tussaud's wax museum in London.

Now the Western world began to vie for her attention and as a result, she appeared on "60 Minutes", "David Letterman Show", Good Morning America and the "Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2005. She won Zee Cine Awards - Critics' Actress of the Year and started the Aishwarya Rai Foundation and to her fans delight - her official Website that same year.

With 32 films already under her belt, she has just completed filming The Last Legion, a dance number for Dhoom2. She has finished filming the title role in 'Umrao Jaan' and is currently "Provoked" is filming in London. She can also be seen as the Mistress of Spices in the film of the same name.

Her "Official" website tells us that the "Queen of Bollywood is currently in negotiations on two other major motion pictures and has film commitments well into 2009."