Deepika Padukone

Who is Deepika Padukone?

Deepika Padukone is an Indian film actress and model. She has established a successful career in Bollywood films, and is cited in the media as one of the most popular and attractive Indian celebrities.

Padukone, the daughter of the badminton player Prakash Padukone, was born in Copenhagen and raised in Bangalore. As a teenager she played badminton in national level championships, but left her career in sport to become a fashion model. She soon received offers for film roles, and made her acting debut in 2006 as the titular character of the Kannada film Aishwarya. Padukone then played dual roles in her first Bollywood release—the 2007 blockbuster Om Shanti Om—and won a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.

Padukone received praise for portraying the lead female roles in the 2009 romance Love Aaj Kal and the 2010 drama Lafangey Parindey, but her performances in the 2008 romantic comedy Bachna Ae Haseeno and the 2010 comedy Housefull met with negative reviews. She followed it with roles in a series of commercially unsuccessful films that failed to propel her career forward.