Imran Khan

Imran Khan is an American-born Bollywood actor. He was born on January 13, 1983 in Madison, Wisconsin. His parents are Anil Pal and Nuzhat Khan; they divorced shortly after the birth of Imran. Imran spent most of his childhood being raised by his mother in India; that is why he kept the surname Khan.

While he was in India he attended the Bombay Scottish School, Mahim in Mumbai, and he studied in Bangalore for a short period of time. He eventually moved back to the United States to finish High School in California with his father. It was while in Los Angeles, California that Imran Khan studied film making professionally.

Even from a young age, Imran Khan was always surrounded by the film industry. He is the nephew of mega-acting star Aamir Khan and the director Mansoor khan. He is also the grandson of noted director and producer Nasir Hussain.

When he was a young boy, Imran starred in two films, ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’ and ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander.’ Both times he played the role of a young Aamir Khan. Imran’s original aspirations were to be a director.

It turns out that he preferred being in front of the camera rather than behind it. While in Mumbai, Imran Kahn joined Kishore Namit Kapoor’s Acting Institute to study the art of being an actor.

Imran Khan finally got his first role as a leading actor in 2008’s ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na.’ The film was directed by Aamir Khan and starred the actress Genelia D’Souza. The film opened to fantastic reviews by critics and was a box office success.

His second starring role had him playing the villain in the film ‘Kidnap.’ The film was not as big as a success of his first film. Imran Khan has two films slated to come out in 2009, ‘Luck’ and ‘Delhi Baby.â€

Deepika Padukone

Deepika Padukone was born on January 5th 1986 in Copenhagen Denmark. Her father is former Badminton Champion Prakash Padukone and her mother tongue is Konkani. Although her birthplace is Denmark she was brought up mostly in Bangalore, India. She has one sister named Anisha.

Deepika Padukone attended Sapphire High School and was a fairly good student. However her interests in extracurricular activities such as sports, singing and dancing outweighed her interests in Academics. She explains herself as a prankster in high school constantly goofing on her friends. She also says she acted like a tomboy and constantly spoke at the top of her voice. She also maintained a close relationship with her sister and her grandparents.

After finishing high school where she says she was a bit of a class clown, Deepika Padukone attended Mount Carmel College in Bangalore. After a brief stint in college she decided to travel to Mumbai to pursue a career in professional modeling.

Deepika Padukone developed a hereditary interest in Badminton, but in the end was drawn to glamour. During her career in modeling she has made appearances in advertisements for Liril, Close Up Toothpaste and Limca. She also modeled for Maybelline eventually becoming their new international Cover-girl face.

Deepika Padukone won Model of the Year award at the fifth annual Kingfisher Fashion Awards. Shortly after she made and appearing in their 2006 swimsuit calendar. She also went on to win two more awards at the Idea Zee F Awards including Female Model of The Year and Fresh Face of The Year.

Although she has now reached supermodel status, Deepika Padukone has returned to school, studying to get her graduates degree in social science through correspondence.

Deepika Padukone is currently dating her co-star from ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’, Ranbir Kapoor.

Ranbir Kapoor

Ranbir Kapoor was born on September 28, 1983 in Mumbai, India. He belongs to the fourth generation of the famous Kapoor family. The Kapoor’s are considered the first family of the Bollywood Film Industry.

This natural talent comes from a long line of extremely gifted actors. His parents are the popular actors Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh. Ranbir Kapoor may have been born into a prestigious Bollywood family but he wanted to prove to everyone that he knew what he was doing on his own.

Before he became an actor, he studied acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York. Then before making his acting debut in films, Ranbir Kapoor worked as an assistant director.

In 2005 he was the assistant to director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, working on the making of the film ‘Black.’

In 2007 he finally made his Bollywood debut in Bhansali’s ‘Saawariya.’ The film also starred fellow newcomer Sonam Kapoor. Unfortunately the film did not do well in the box office but it did garner Ranbir Kapoor a lot of attention.

He received rave reviews from critics for his portrayal of the lovesick singer, Ranbir Raj. One critic, Taran Adarsh, stated that ‘Ranbir Kapoor is extremely talented…this lad will only make the Kapoor clan proud for years to come.’ Everyone was so impressed with the young actor’s performance that he won the Filmfare Best Male Debut Award in 2008 for his role.

His most recent role was in the film ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ directed by Siddharth Anand. The film did decently at the box office; it did better than his first film. He is also currently dating his co-star from this film, Deepika Padukone.

Ranbir Kapoor has three other projects set to be released later this year, ‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani,’ ‘Wake Up Sid,’ and ‘Rajneeti.’

Shahid Kapoor

Shahid Kapoor was born on February 25, 1981 in Mumbai, India. His father Pankaj Kapoor was an actor and his mother Neelima Azeem was an actress and classical dancer. Shahid’s parents divorced when he was only three years old.

He spent the majority of his time living with his mother, but he also had a great relationship with his father and stepmother Supriya Pathak. Shahid has two siblings, a sister Sana and a brother Ishaan Kapoor. His brother is also an actor; the two starred in the film ‘Vaah! Life Ho to Aisi’ together.

Shahid Kapoor began his performing career starring in music videos and commercials. One of his most noted commercials was an ad for Pepsi, which featured Shahrukh Khan, Kajol, and Rani Mukerji.

After this, Shahid decided to join the Shiamak Davar Institute for the Performing Arts. He made his debut in 1999 in the film ‘Taal’ as a background dancer. Shahid would have to wait until 2003 for his first leading role, but it was well worth the wait.

It was in the film ‘Ishq Vishk,’ which also starred Amrita Rao and Shenaz Treasurywala. The film was a box office hit, and Kapoor earned a Filmfare Best Male Debut Award for his performance.

In 2005 Shahid earned his first Star Screen Award for Best Actor nomination for his role in the drama ‘Shikhar.’ From 2003 to 2006, Shahid Kapoor starred in several films but none were able to match the box office success of his debut.

Finally in 2006, with the release of ’36 China Town,’ he received his second box office hit. He released two more films that year which were hits at the box office. His final release of the year, the romantic drama ‘Vivah,’ was one of the highest grossing films of the year. The film earned Shahid his second Best Actor nomination at the Star Screen Awards.

During that same year, Shahid embarked on the ‘Rockstars Concert,’ his first world tour. The concert featured other Bollywood stars, such as Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, and John Abraham.

In 2007 Shahid Kapoor took on the role of Aditya Kashyap in ‘Jab We Met.’ It became his most critically acclaimed role to date. He received several Best Actor nods at numerous award shows.

Shahid Kapoor has multiple projects set for 2009, including ‘PaathShaala’ and ‘Haddipa.’

From 2004 to 2007 Shahid Kapoor dated fellow Bollywood star Kareena Kapoor. The two have since separated but remain on good terms.

Hrithik Roshan

Hrithik Roshan was born in Mumbai on January 10th 1974. His father is film director Rakesh Roshan and his mother is Pinky Roshan who is the daughter of producer and director J. Om Prakash. He went on to attend Bombay Scottish School, Churchgate and has a degree in commerce from Sydenham College.

Hrithik Roshan started working in Bollywood as a child in films like ‘Aasha’ and ‘Aapke Deewane’ but didn’t make his official mark in the industry until 2000. In ‘Kaho Na Pyaar Hai’ a love story directed by his father Rakesh Roshan, Hrithik starred opposite Amisha Patel. The film was very successful and earned it eight Filmfare awards. The film also earned other awards including Hrithik winning for best debut and best actor.

Following that film he played a terrorist in the film ‘Fiza’ and also played a similar role to that in ‘Mission Kashmir’. He followed those up with the films like ‘Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham’ and ‘Yaadein’, and while ‘Yaadein’ was not that successful ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’ was an instant hit.

2002 brought Hrithik Roshan a string of flops like ‘Aap Mujhe Acche Lagne Lage’ and ‘Na Tum Jaano Na Hum’ leaving fans and critics skeptical of where Roshan’s career was going. Finally in 2003 he earned an award for best actor at the Filmfare Awards for his part in ‘Koi Mil Gaya’ where he played a mentally abnormal Rohit.

In 2006 he reprised the same role in the sequel ‘Krrish ’. The movie earned well at the box office and became another hit for Roshan. His next role was in ‘Dhoom 2’ where he won another Filmfare best actor award for his role as Mr. A.

Hrithik Roshan is currently married to his high school sweetheart Suzanne Khan and has two sons with her.

Abhishek Bachhan

Abhishek Bachchan was born February 1976 to his father and Bollywood legendAmitabh Bachchan and actress Jaya Bachchan. He attended several prestigious schools as a young man and eventually went on to study business in the United States. After deciding acting was his main interest his father allowed him to leave school and pursue and full time career in acting.

Abhishek Bachchans first role in a film was in J.P. Dutta’s ‘Refugee’ in 2000. The film was moderately successful and also starred Kareena Kapoor. From there he went on to do the film ‘Kuch Naa Kaho’ where he starred alongside Aishwarya Rai who he would later marry in April 2007.

He got his acting chops in the film ‘Yuva’ in 2004 and went on to do the ‘Dhoom’ the same year which ended up becoming his first major hit. 2005 brought more success for Bachchan with a string of four hit films including ‘Bunty Aur Babli’, ‘Sarkar’, ‘Dus’ and ‘Bluffmaster’.

In 2006 Abhishek ended up starring in one of the highest grossing films of the year in ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’. The same year ‘Dhoom 2’ came out, a sequel to one of his first hits and ended up doing well at the box office. Despite his performance in the film the villain Hrithik Roshan stole the show.

The next year Abhshek’s film ‘Guru’ earned him critical acclaim and ended up being his first official solo hit. His next release was ‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’ which did not do as well in India but surprisingly had some success overseas earning him more critical acclaim.

Some of Abhisheks other accomplishments include The Unforgettable World Tour that he went on with wife Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta and father Amitabh Bachchan in the summer of 2008.

He has established himself as a successful actor despite the fact that his father is already a legend, and come into his own.

Akshay Kumar

Akshay Kumar whose original name was Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia was born September 9th 1967 in Delhi. His father was a government worker who encouraged him to get into sports. He lived in Delhi's Chandni Chowk neighborhood before moving to Mumbai where he studied at Don Bosco School and Khalsa College where he got into sports.

Akshay Kumar went on to study martial arts in Bangkok where he worked as a chef and returned to Mumbai to teach. One of his martial arts students happened to be a photographer and suggested that Kumar, than Bhatia should pursue a career in modeling. The student connected him to a modeling company where Kumar received Rs. 5000 for two hours of work as opposed to Rs. 4000 a year at his regular job. Kumar than changed his name and began modeling.

Shortly after Akshay started to model he began to get offers to do films. He was noticed for his dance skills and stunts in some films he did in the beginning and really broke through with his first hit movie "Khiladi". But the movie that finally classified him as a top league actor was "Yeh Dillagi".

Afterwards he did films like "Mohra" and "Sabse Bada Khiladi" which launched him into being a household name. After mastering the action movie field he began to do different kinds of films like "Ajnaabee" where he played a villain and was successful at playing the role.

He also delved into a romantic role playing opposite Shilpa Shetty in "Dhadkan" and was noticed for his talent in that field of films also. Kumar played a comedy role in "Hera Pheri" and continued to act and make himself more versatile. He went on to act in many more successful films and is one of Bollywood's most sought after actors today.

Saif Ali Khan

Saif Ali Khan was born on August 16, 19770. Growing up, Khan was surrounded by cricketers. Both his father and grandfather were accomplished cricket players and captains of the Indian Team. His mother, Sharmila Tagore was a Bengali actress but is now head of Indian film censorship board.

Saif Ali Khan studied at the Lawrence School Sanawar and later attended Lockers Park Prep School. He began his acting career in “Parampara” in 1992. A year later in “Aashiq Awara” he won the Filmfare for Best Male Debut. He starred in other films over the years alongside stars such as Kajol and Akshay Kumar but had a hard time having a major hit. However, in 2000 he had some success with his film “Kya Kehna” that dealt with the taboo of a premarital pregnancy.

He had another major hit with the second top grossing film in 2003, “Kal Ho Na ho.” The film put him along side Preity Zinta and Shahrukh Khan. Saif Ali Khan won the Filmfare for Best Supporting Actor in a role where Saif falls for Preity Zinta and gets some help from Shahrukh Khan. He followed up with success in “Hum Tum” and “Salaam Namaste” among others.

Aside from acting, Khan also produces with his production company Illuminati Films. His first film, which he is also starring in, “Love Aaj Kal,” will be released in June 2009.

In his personal life, Khan was married to actress Amrita Singh since 1991. The then couple had a boy and girl together and divorced in 2004. Recently, at the Lakme Fashion, Khan confirmed rumors that he is dating actress Kareena Kapoor and has reportedly taken her to meet his family. The couple worked together in Khans last film, an animated venture that brought Disney to Bolllywood. The film, “Roadside Romeo” was a box office failure.

Aishwarya rai

Aishwarya Rai was born on November 1st 1973 in Karnataka Managlore, India. Her father was a merchant naval officer named Krishnaraj Rai and her mother's name is Vrinda Rai who was a homemaker.

Aishwarya Rai attended the number one science college in India DG Ruparel College with intentions of becoming a doctor. She also went to the Raheja College of Architecture. While attending Raheja College she started modeling and in 1994 she entered the Miss India contest. She won second place and went on to represent the country in the Miss World contest winning the title and the most photogenic award. She worked as Miss World in London for a year and came back home to start working in the film industry after catching the attention of film makers.

Aishwarya Rai's first appearance in a movie was in the Tamil language film "Mani Ratnam" in 1997. She went on to play opposite Bobby Deol in the film "Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya" which introduced her to Bollywood. Her next role was in "Jeans" by S. Shenkar in 1998 which became a blockbuster and a favorite of critics. She appeared in other Bollywood films such as "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" and "Taal." In 1999 she won the Filmfare Best Actress Award South for her role in "Taal."

This catapulted her to super stardom and she appeared in the film "Devdas" which became an international success earning a screening at the Cannes Film Festival. Hollywood noticed her at Cannes and started offering her projects. In 2004 she was listed as one of Time Magazines 100 most influential people. She went on to appear in some Hollywood shows and continues to appear in both Bollywood and Hollywood films.

Aside from films Aishwarya Rai owns her own production company Target where she is very hands-on. She also does endorsements for companies like Longines, Coke, Lux, Loreal and Nakshatra and continues to model for companies like Pepsi, Eye Bank Association of India, Colgate, Fuji and Palmolive.

In January of 2007, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan announced their engagement. The two married in April of 2007. Previously, Aishwarya Rai was romantically link to Vivek Oberoi and Salman Khan.

Kareen Kapoor

Kareena Kapoor was born on September 21, 1977 in Bombay India. Her father is Punjabi -speaking Randhi Kapoor and her mother is Sindhi-speaking Babita. Her older sister is Bollywood actress Karisma Kapoor.

Kareena Kapoor was born into a family full of actors going all the way back to her paternal great grandfather Prithviraj Kapoor and her grandfather Raj Kapoor. Her paternal uncles Shammi, Shashi, Rishi, and Rajiv along with aunt's Neetu Singh and Jennifer Kenndall also were actors. On her mother's side her grandfather, Hari Shivdasani, and aunt, Sadhana acted also.

As a young girl she studied in Jamnabai Narsee School in Bombay and went on to attend Welham Girls Boarding School. After finishing she attended Harvard for 3 months to take a course in Information Technology and Microcomputers.

She returned to India after and attended the Government Law College in Churchgate, Bombay and left after one year to pursue acting at the Kishore Namit Kapoor Acting School.

Her father was not pleased with her decision to pursue acting and wanted his daughters to live a regular life by settling down with a family. This led to differences with between Randhi and Babita who eventually divorced. The girls went to live with their mother.

Kareena Kapoor's film debut was in 2000 "Refugee" debuting together with Amitabh Bachchan's son Abhishek. After "Refugee" she went on to star in 31 other Hindi films, and won four awards for her roles in "Refugee", "Chameli", "Dev", and "Omkara".

Kareena Kapoor is now one of the most popular actresses inBollywood. She has done endorsements for Pepsi, Citizen Drive Watch's and Head and Shoulders. She continues to expand her career accepting versatile roles and is among the A-list in Bollywood.

Katrina Kaif

Katrina Kaif was born on July 16th 1984. She is one of eight siblings who are all girls. Her mother is of Caucasian-British decent and her father who is originally from Kashmir, India is now also a Britain Native.

Katrina Kaif was raised mostly in Hawaii and started modeling at the age of 14 in a jewelry campaign, which turned into a career and her spending most of her time in London modeling for various companies.

She was discovered by film maker Kaizad Gustad while she was modeling and she landed a role in the Bollywood film "Boom", getting her first big break in the film industry.

After arriving in India she was flooded with modeling contracts due to her innocent looking face, hour glass figure and gorgeous look. The offers came from companies like LG, Cola, Favicol and Lakme which is the commercial that got her noticed. Most of her early work was with photographer Atul Kasbekar.

She wasn't affected by moving from country to country and stated that no matter where you are from the bottom line is that everyone wants to be loved respected and cared for.

Unlike other fellow outsiders of India Katrina Kaif had no problems getting a visa to stay there. After public criticized by boyfriend Salman Khan, she is currently perfecting her Hindi and despite being linguistically challenged at first with the native tongue, she was still offered roles in Bollywood films. Katrina Kaif also takes dance lessons furthering her assimilation into the Bollywood culture.

Critics were not crazy about her first film "Boom" and audiences felt the same way. She went on to make two other Telegu films "Malliswari" and "Pidugu" which finally got her noticed. She made Rs.70 Lakhs from "Malliswari" making her one of the highest paid actresses during a south Indian film debut.

Priyank Chopra

Priyanka Chopra was born on July 18th 1982. She was the first born girl of Dr. Madhu Chopra and Capt. Dr. Ashok Chopra. She has one younger brother. Her father is Punjabi speaking and her mother is from Bihar.

She was born in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, but also spent some of her childhood in Rae Barreilly, in Utter Pradesh and also in Lucknow where she attended La Martiniere Girl’s School.

These relocations took place due to her father’s position as a doctor in the Indian Army. She even lived in the U.S. for a little while in places like Massachusetts and Iowa.

Priyanka Chopra returned to India in 2000 and started attending Jai Hind College and Basant Singh Institute of Science in Churchgate, Bombay. She left the school abruptly after winning the Miss India contest. She went on to win Miss World in the same year.

Coincidentally this was a big year for Indian beauty queens with Lara Dutta and Dia Mirza winning Miss Universe and Miss Asia Pacific.

After Priyanka Chopra’s reign as beauty queen ended, she ventured into movies and appeared in the Tamil language film $Thamizhan$.

Her first Bollywood role was in 2002’s ‘The Hero’. She went on to act in over 28 movies including $Andaaz$, $Aitraaz$, $Mujhse Shaadi Karogi$, and $Krrish$. She has won 11 awards for her performances in these films.

In 2007 Priyanka Chopra appeared in $Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love$ which failed to succeed at the box office.

Other films she appeared in like $˜Big Brother$,$ Love Story 2050$, $God Tussi Great Ho$ and $˜Drona$ were also considered flops. However her most recent roles in $Fashion$ and $Dostana$ have done well at the box office and earned her critical acclaim reviving her status.