Vidya Balan is an Indian bollywood actress who hails from Kerela and born in a Tamil Iyer community. Her family consists of her father, P.R. Balan, a Vice President of ETC Channel, a home-maker mother and an elder sister, Priya. She studied at 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 sister learned Carnatic dance 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. She started her career starring in many music videos, soaps and commercial ads.
Considerably overweight during her school-days, she decided to shed those extra pounds when she elected to opt for modeling and movies. Her first break came with
Vidya Balan is an Indian bollywood actress who hails from Kerela and born in a Tamil Iyer community. Her family consists of her father, P.R. Balan, a Vice President of ETC Channel, a home-maker mother and an elder sister, Priya. She studied at 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 sister learned Carnatic dance 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. She started her career starring in many music videos, soaps and commercial ads.
Considerably overweight during her school-days, she decided to shed those extra pounds when she elected to opt for modeling and movies. Her first break came with a Malayalam movie 'Chakram'. Then she waited long for the Surf Excel commercial to come. She then went on to appear in several commercials directed by Pradeep Sarkar. She also 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. Though, she is now few films old to the film industry, but still her performance has been appreciated in every character she did for her films. Hindi films that are credited to her name are 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai', 'Kismat Konnection', 'Hey baby', 'Bhool Bhulaiya', 'Sallam-E-Ishq', 'Guru'. Recently she is all set with her two forthcoming bollywood release 'Paa' and 'Ishqiya'.
Apart from acting, Vidya occupies herself for supporting education for young Indians by promoting children's books, she is also 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.