Vidya Balan is an Indian actress. She has established a career in Bollywood and is the recipient of several awards

Vidya Balan is an Indian actress. She has established a career in Bollywood and is the recipient of several awards, including a National Film Award, five Filmfare Awards, and five Screen Awards.Vidya Balan is an Indian film actress, who appears in Hindi and Bengali movies. She started her acting career at the age of 16 with the TV show "Hum Paanch". Later, she was seen in several television commercials and music videos. Vidya made her Bengali film debut with "Bhalo Theko" in 2003. For her extrodinary performances she has been awarded with 1 National Film Award, 5 Filmfare Awards and 5 Screen Awards. She was seen in Mohit Suri's film Hamari Adhuri Kahani.Vidya was born in Palghat, Kerala, India. Her family consists of her dad, P.R. Balan, who is the Vice-President of ETC Channel; mom - a home-maker, and an elder sister, Priya, who is married to Kedar. She also has an aunt by the name of Raji Raju.The Balan family re-located to live at Road No. 11, near Ambedkar Garden, Chembur, Bombay, when Vidya was very young. She studied in St. Anthony's Convent School, and thereafter in St. Xavier's College from where she obtained a degree in Sociology. She then went on to obtain a Masters degree in Sociology from Bombay University.She also studied and performed in Prithvi Theaters' workshops. Due to tradition of most Tamil-Iyer families, Vidya and her Priya learned Carnatic dance form during their early childhood days, but Vidya opted out as the dance classes took place early on Sunday mornings and as she is not an early riser.Considerably overweight, rather tomboyish, during her school-days, and an ardent fan of Shahrukh Khan, she decided to shed those extra pounds when she elected to opt for modeling and movies.
Facing disappointment after being rejected by a Tamil producer, she nevertheless persisted until she got her first break with a Malyalam movie 'Chakram' opposite Mohanlal, however, the project was shelved, and she had to wait until 1998 to debut in a Surf Excel commercial. She then went on to appear in several commercials directed by Pradeep Sarkar. She completed nearly 90 such ads.She appeared in three music videos for Pankaj Udhas, Euphoria, and Shubha Mudgal in supporting roles. She then also appeared in two TV serials Ekta Kapoor's 'Hum Paanch', and Ashok Pandit's 'Hanste Khelte'.During 2003 she was signed-up to play a role in a Bengali movie 'Bhaalo Theko' opposite Joy Sengupta. This project was completed during the year 2006, and was a considerable hit.Then during 2006 Vidya was approached by Vidhu Vinod Chopra during a pop-concert in Mumbai to play a lead role in 'Parineeta'. She then had to undergo 17 make-up shoots and 40 screen tests before being chosen for this role. All this hard work did result in success as 'Parineeta' was very well received so much so that the Tamil producer, who had previously rejected her, invited her to appear in a 'Dasavatharam' opposite Kamal Hassan, and now it was Vidya's turn to reject this offer which eventually went to 'Asin'.Apart from acting, Vidya occupies herself for supporting education for young Indians by promoting children's' books; is associated with Americans for Aids Research; with Hale House - that provides support and housing for children born with HIV and drug abuse; as well as hosting forums and attending events for Harvard Aids Institute.When she was single, she was never involved in any scandal and claimed to get along well with both female and male friends. In 2012, she married producer Siddharth Roy KapurAn ardent devotee of Bhagwan Shri Sai Baba, she makes it a point to attend Mandirs every Thursday. She is proficient in Tamil, Malyalam, Hindi, English, Bengali, and can also read Urdu.Vidya Balan is an Indian actress, who appears mainly in Hindi films, in addition to Bengali and Malayalam films.After graduating with a degree in sociology, she started her career starring in music videos, television shows and commercials, before making her feature film debut with the independent Bengali drama Bhalo Theko (2003).
Balan received positive notice for her first Hindi film, Parineeta (2005), and followed it with a leading role in the blockbuster Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), and other such hit films as Guru, Heyy Babyy and Bhool Bhulaiyaa (all 2007).

2009 marked the beginning of the most successful period in Balan's career as she portrayed five back-to-back roles to wide critical acclaim in Paa (2009), Ishqiya (2010), No One Killed Jessica (2011), The Dirty Picture (2011) and Kahaani (2012).These roles have further established her as one of the leading contemporary actresses of Hindi cinema and earned her several major awards.Balan has received one National Film Award for Best Actress, five Filmfare Awards, including two for Best Actress and one for Best Actress - Critics, as well as three consecutive Screen Awards for Best Actress.The actress can speak English, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Bengali very well.In 1998, this elegant beauty started her career as a model in the Surf Excel advertisement.Lacted in a few music videos for Euphoria, Shubha Mudgal and Pankaj Udhas.She was also seen in TV serials such as Ashok Pandit's Hanste Khelte and Ekta Kapoor's Hum Paanch as well as a Bengali movie Bhalo Theko with actor Joy Sengupta. She won the Best Actress Award, Anand Lok Puraskar for this movie in Kolkatta.Vidya's father PR Balan is the Vice-President of ETC Network while her mother is a homemaker. She also has a sister named Priya. Vidya went to St Antony's School in Chembur and graduated in Sociology from St Xavier's College.Vidya Balan was born on 1 January 1979 in Ottapalam, Kerala to P. R. Balan and Saraswathy Balan. She completed her studies from St. Anthony's Convent School, St. Xavier's College and also pursued a degree in Sociology. Vidya is well versed in Tamil, Malyalam, Hindi, Marathi, English and Bengali. Her elder sister Priya Balan, who is also an actress works in the field of advertising. Her cousin Priyamani is also an actress who mainly appears in Southern movies and a model too. From a very early age Vidya aspired to be a part of films and was inspired by the work of actresses like Shabana Azmi and Madhuri Dixit. Recently Actress Vidya Balan has opened up, that she will be seen in a cameo role as a cop in Sujoy Ghosh produced upcoming film "Te3n". The film features megastar Amitabh Bachchan and actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui in pivotal roles. The actress said that, "I am playing a cop, it's a special appearance. I was excited because it's a fabulous script... It's a chance to shoot again in Kolkata, with Bachchan sahab, Nawazuddin and Sujoy". Vidya Balan made her debut in the Bengali film, Bhalo Theko (2003). Her role was much appreciated. She then made her debut in Bollywood in Parineeta (2006) and excelled in her role, winning the Award for Best Female Debutant. She appeared in the blockbuster Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006). In 2007, she acted in Mani Ratnam’s Guru as a girl suffering from multiple sclerosis, Salaam-e-Ishq, Eklavya: The Royal Guard, Heyy Babyy and Bhool Bhulaiyaa. All these films proved her versatility and her defiance to not fit into the glam doll mould of Bollywood actresses.Vidya then played the role of a young independent single mother struggling with her son’s progeria syndrome in Paa (2009). Her portrayal of the role stood apart from the usual Bollywood maa roles and got her rave reviews from critics as well as the audience. True to her spirit of doing something different, Vidya then acted in Ishqiya (2010) and won accolades for the portrayal of the seductive widow.Her movie, No One Killed Jessica (2011), did well at the box-office and her role in the movie was appreciated too. In 2011 her last release was super-hit film The Dirty Picture.Vidya was widely appreciated for her role and won almost all major awards in best actress category for her role in this film. She will be next seen in Kahaani and Ferrari Ki Sawaari.