Indian film actress and model, also known under her married name Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. She was the winner of Miss World beauty contest title on 19 November 1994.
She trained in classical dance and music for five years during her teens. Her favourite subject was zoology, so she initially considered a career in medicine but was unsuccessful later on. Then with plans to become an architect, she enrolled at Raheja College, but later gave up her education to pursue a career in modelling. In 1991, Rai won a supermodel contest (organised by Ford) and was eventually featured in the American edition of Vogue. In 1993, Rai gained public recognition for her appearance in a Pepsi commercial with actor Aamir Khan. In the 1994 Miss India she won second place, behind Sushmita Sen, and was crowned Miss India World. With Sen representing India at the Miss Universe pageant, Aishwarya’s duties as the first alternate included representing India in the rival Miss World Pageant, held that year in Sun City, South Africa. Rai continued to pursue a career as a model until she became an actress.
Rai made her acting debut in 1997 with Mani Ratnam’s Tamil film Iruvar, a semi-biographical political drama. Rai appeared alongside Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s love-saga Devdas, an adaptation of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel of the same name. She played the role of Paro (Parvati), the love interest of the protagonist (played by Khan). The film was screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and was featured by Time in their listing of the “10 best films of the millennium”. The film emerged as a major international success with revenues of over US$ 9.0 million. In India, the film won 10 Filmfare Awards, including a second Best Actress award for Rai.
Her relationship with actor Salman Khan was a well publicised topic in the Indian media. After their break-up in March 2002, Rai accused him of harassing her.
Her engagement with actor Abhishek Bachchan (born 5 February 1976) was announced on 14 January 2007 and later confirmed by his father, actor Amitabh Bachchan. The couple married on 20 April 2007 according to traditional Hindu rites of the Bunt community, to which she belongs. They have been described as a supercouple in the Indian media. Rai gave birth to a baby girl on 16 November 2011, at 9:50 am. Her daughter became popularly known by the name of “Beti B,” a name attributed to her by fans and the media, since the couple took over four months to name their daughter. The baby girl was finally named Aaradhya Bachchan in March 2012.
Link to Wikipedia biography