Freida Selena Pinto is an Indian actress who has appeared mainly in American and British films

Freida Selena Pinto is an Indian actress who has appeared mainly in American and British films. She was born and raised in Mumbai, India, and decided to become an actress at a young age. Freida Pinto was born in Mumbai, India, on October 18, 1984. Her father is a banker, while her mother is the principal of a High School. Her sister, Sharon, is a producer at the Indian news channel, NDTV. Freida earned a bachelor’s degree in English at the St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai, and got recruited by the Elite model agency in India at age 20. She has then done campaigns for such companies as Chanel, Visa and eBay.

In 2006-2007, she anchored the TV travel show Full Circle, and visited several Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Fiji, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Freida always knew she wanted to be an actress, professional or not. Though with the high standards of India’s response to Hollywood – Bollywood – it’s very difficult to get ahead. As Freida put it: “You have to be a child of an actor or actress, or have a godfather.” Her one in a life time-chance came with Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, which was to be filmed in the city of Mumbai, India. When Boyle saw Freida’s tape he immediately asked for her to come to the audition. But since she had no acting experience, they put her through an entire process of auditioning for six months. “The first time I read with the casting director and the second time on it was with Danny Boyle. I would go in probably once a month, sometimes twice a month and every time I’d go in for an audition Danny would say ‘Fantastic. I’ll see you again’. So every time he said that I’d say, ‘Okay, maybe in three days’. 30 days! He’d just keep me waiting for 30 days. I think every time I went in was fun. I’m not complaining because I think it was literally like going to an acting school and I think it was necessary because since I had absolutely no acting experience besides the amateur theatre that I’d done.”

Boyle followed his gut feeling and Freida was cast as Latika, the long-lost love interest of the movie’s main character, Jamal (played by the talented Dev Patel). “I put 23 years of research into this film, not knowing I was going to play this part”, Freida said. When Slumdog Millionaire premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival in September 2008, the movie and its stars received rave reviews. Viewers have described the movie with words as “a masterpiece” and “one in a million”. And it truly is.

Already at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, Freida received the “People’s Choice” award, and has since then been honored with a “Breakthrough Performance” award at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards as well as a BAFTA nomination for “Best Supporting Actress”. Slumdog Millionaire itself was nominated for practically every major award at every ceremony, and won Golden Globes for “Best Motion Picture – Drama”, “Best Director”, “Best Original Screenplay” and “Best Adapted Screenplay”. The Oscar buzz continued to surround the movie as it won all the major awards at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Writers Guild Awards, Directors Guild Awards and the U.K. based BAFTA Awards. So on Oscar-night, February 22 2009, it was no surprise to see it win eight of the ten awards it was nominated for. Among them was Best Movie, Best Director, Best Screenplay and more. Freida Selena Pinto was born in Bombai (now Mumbai), Maharashtra, India, to Sylvia, a school principal, and Frederick Pinto, a senior bank branch manager. She is from a Mangalorean family.

Pinto traversed the modeling circuit in Mumbai [represented by Elite Model Management India] for two years before gaining her big break when director Danny Boyle picked her out in the audition process to play the female lead, Latika, for his project Slumdog Millionaire (2008). In a promo interview, Boyle likened spotting her to his discovery ofKelly Macdonald for Trainspotting.

Surprisingly, Freida, who studied at Mumbai's St. Xaviers College, only began taking acting classes [she has done amateur theatre before] after completing her debut film - when she attended a three-month workshop by Barry John, the veteran theatre guru.

Between 2006-07, she anchored 'Full Circle', a travel show which was telecast on Zee International Asia Pacific. She went on assignments to Afghanistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Fiji among other countries. Freida's parents are from Mangalore, a coastal town in southern India.

Her father is a banker, while her mother is the principal of a High School. Her sister, Sharon, is a producer with the Indian news channel, NDTV.

Trained in some forms of Indian classical dance as well as Salsa.

Was formerly engaged to her fiancé Rohan Antao from 2007 until January 2009. They were formerly in a relationship from 2003 to 2009.

Auditioned for the part of Bond Girl Camille in Quantum of Solace (2008), but lost out the role to Olga Kurylenko.

The surname "Pinto", is a Portuguese surname meaning "Chick" (little bird). The Portuguese were the first European colonizers and settlers of India, arriving in 1497.

She studied at Carmel of St. Joseph School in Malad and completed her Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in English Literature from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.

Was formerly in a relationship with Dev Patel, having met on the set of Slumdog Millionaire (2008) from February 2009 to December 2014. This industry is for fighters and those who do not give up! It is very important to believe in yourself. Even when a hundred people rejected me, I did not lose hope and, finally, one of the biggest directors of all times [Danny Boyle] believed in me! Also working in this film [Slumdog Millionaire (2008)] has taught me a lot, not just in terms of acting but also about myself, which is an integral part of being a good actor!

I'm just so used to calling it Bombay. I know everything has changed. It's India's way of trying to brush off colonialism and make it what it originally was, but unfortunately for me I called it Bombay for 16 years, and I think that's a long time in a 26-year-old's life to automatically start calling it Mumbai. It's very confusing for a lot of people. My agent thought Bombay and Mumbai were two different places. And I was like, "No, it's the same thing."

[on preparing to play a primatologist in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)] Like most people, I only knew what I'd been taught in school about chimps, and that's not enough. So I watched a ton of videos about Jane Goodall, who I'd love to meet. All her research was fascinating and so useful, especially in how she studied human behavior in comparison to chimp behavior. Freida Pinto is an actress and a model. From the young age of five, she has aspired to become an actress. Before making her debut in acting, she was a successful model and a television presenter. She is well noted for her films in Hollywood. She first appeared in Bollywood with the film "Slumdog Millionaire" as Latika, which is the English film remake. For her best performance in the film, she has won "Breakthrough Performance Award" at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. She was seen in several television and print advertisements such as Wrigley's Chewing Gum, Skoda, Vodafone India, Airtel, Visa, E-Bay and DeBeers. Freida Pinto was born as Freida Selena Pinto on 18 October 1984 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. She studied at the Carmel of St. Joseph School in Malad, Mumbai. She actively participated in sports and was a chorus singer in the school. She did her degree in arts with major in English literature and minors in Psychology and Economics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. During her college days, she took part in several theatre plays. She later joined the Elite Model Management and modeled for some years. She also appeared on the magazine covers including Femina and FNL. After experiencing success in modelling, she attended an acting course at "The Barry John's Acting Studio" in Andheri, Mumbai. Apart from acting she is also a good dancer in Salsa and Classical Indian dance. Freida before step-in into films, ruled the modelling industry for four years. She has anchored an international travel show, "Full Circle", which was aired on Zee International Asia Pacific. At that time she has visited countries such as Fiji, Malaysia and Thailand. Later she auditioned for several films and finally got the oppurtunity with the Hollywood film "Slumdog Millionaire". Her role as Latika has received awards and applauses. From then she has continued her career in Hollywood. Freida Pinto was born to Frederick Pinto and Sylvia Pinto into a Mangalorean Catholic family in Mumbai. Her father is a senior branch manager at the Bank of Baroda, whereas her mother is a school principal. She has an elder sister Sharon, who works as an associate producer for a news channel, NDTV. She was engaged to former publicist Rohan Antao, the relationship ended in January 2009. Later she started dating British actor, Dev Patel. Freida Pinto is dating Dev Patel since 2009. They also done American talk-shows and attending red carpet events in Hollywood. Dev is five years younger than Freida. When asked about secret marriage, she said, "No, we're not married. I can't even imagine we'll be married in five years..OK, I'm saying no right now, tomorrow I might surprise you. Who knows?" The gorgeous actress Freida Pinto gained immense popularity and was frequently included in the "Most Beautiful Women in the World" list. In 2009, she was featured in People magazine's "Most Beautiful People List", and "List of World's Best Dressed Women". In the same year she was the highest paid Indian actress. She was also titled as "top ten most stylish women". In 2010, she was featured in the "Top 99 Most Desirable Women" poll conducted by AskMen. The People named her as one of the "Most Beautiful at Every Age".