Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan is hailed as the next big thing, among the current lot of Bollywood actresses. She banks on her beauty, grace and talent rather than on exposure like her other competitors.Vidya was born in a middleclass family in Palakkad, on the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Originally her family belongs to Tamil Iyer community. But she grew up in Mumbai. Her father PR Balan is Vice President of ETC Channel and her mother, a homemaker. She also has an older sister, Priya, who is married. She is close to her brother-in-law as well. Vidya handles several languages with ease, including her native Tamil, Malayalam, English, Hindi, and Bengali

Her did her schooling in St. Anthony’s Girls High School and college in St. Xavier's College and also studied in University of Mumbai for a short period. She has got a Sociology degree to her credit.

Vidya Balan was signed to appear in the Malayalam film Chakram, but the film was abandoned mid-way through productionShe is from the Iyer communityShe made her debut as a model in a Surf Excel advertisement in 1998She decided to join films the day she interacted with Shabana Azmi while in collegeShe is trained in Carnatic musicVidya had to go through 40 screen tests and 17 make-up shoots before she was chosen for the lead role in ParineetaVidya Balan has acted in more than 25 ad films, most of which were directed by Pradeep Sarkar.

It was in Mumbai, during a pop concert, when filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra approached her to play the female lead in his movie Parineeta, to be directed by Pradeep Sarkar.Vidya had to go through 40 screen tests and 17 make-up shoots before she was finally chosen for the lead role in the film.