Aishwarya Rai

Aishwarya Rai was born in Mangalore, in the South Indian state of Karnataka, to Krishnaraj Rai, a marine engineer, and Vrinda Rai, a writer. Her ancestors are from the Bunt community of Mangalore. Her family later relocated to Mumbai. Rai has one brother, Aditya Rai, who is three years older than she is. Aditya is in the merchant navy, and has also co-produced a film with Rai in the lead.Rai's native language is Tulu; she also speaks Hindi, English, Marathi, Urdu, Kannada, and Tamil.Rai attended the Arya Vidya Mandir at Santacruz, Mumbai, then entered Ruparel College, Matunga, Mumbai. She was an A student and was on track to become an architect.Rai began modeling on the side while studying architecture. She was a contestant in the Miss India 1994 pageant, which she lost to Sushmita Sen. Rai later went on to win the Miss World title that same year. She appeared in her first film in 1997Aishwarya Rai prefers not to talk to the media about her personal life. All the details mentioned in this section are based on what was reported by the media and have not been confirmed by Ms Rai, except as otherwise indicated.Rai began dating Salman Khan, her co-star from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, after the filming of that movie. Their breakup a few years later generated a substantial amount of press attention.Rai has been described by others in the Bollywood film industry as having traditional values and being "a paragon of age-old, dutiful Indian femininity".As a practicing Hindu, she has described herself as having "immense faith in its gods", and when at home she attends the Siddhivinayak Mandir, devoted to Lord Ganesh. When not on the road, Rai lives in Mumbai with her parents.

Rai made her acting debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film, Iruvar (1997) with Mohanlal, and was introduced to Bollywood in the film, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya opposite Bobby Deol, which also released that year; the film didn't do well at the box office.

However, her third project, S. Shankar's Tamil film, Jeans (1998) was a critical and commercial success, earning her the Filmfare Best Actress Award South.