Amrita Rao

Amrita Rao

Born : June 17, 1981 (1981-06-17) (age 27)

  Chitrapur, Karnataka, India

Occupation : Model, Actress

Years active : 2002 - present

Amrita Rao (Konkani) born June 17, 1981)[1][2] is an Indian model and Bollywood actress.

Beginning her career as a model, Rao made her acting debut with Ab Ke Baras (2002), which went unnoticed. However, she grew into prominence when she starred in Ken Ghosh's love-story, Ishq Vishk (2003) and earned her first Filmfare nomination in the Best Female Debut category. Delivering acclaimed performances and commercial success with films like Main Hoon Na (2004) and Vivah (2006), her biggest commercial success so far, she has established herself as one of the most promising actresses of Bollywood.

Personal life

Amrita Rao was born in Chitrapur to Deepak Rao. She belongs to the Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin family in Karnataka.[2][3] She has a younger sister Preetha Rao, who is also an actress. She speaks Kannada, English, Marathi, Hindi and her mother tongue, Konkani.

Career

Modeling

Rao attended C.G High School in Mumbai,and later enrolled in Sophia College to pursue a degree in Psychology. While studying there, she auditioned for an advertisement for Fairever Face Cream. To her surprise she was selected amongst 60 other contestants. After that, she got many offers and became one of the most sought-after models in India within an year.

Her appearance in Cadbury’s Perk Karwa Chaut ad and the Bru Coffee advertisement helped her receive offers from film directors in Bollywood. As she wanted to complete her education, she refused them. After earning a degree in psychology, she began her profession as an actress, working in films.

Acting

She made her acting debut with Ab Ke Baras (2002), but gained recognition only after the success of her 2003 film, Ishq Vishk, in which her portrayal as Payal earned her the girl-next door image. Success followed for her in 2004 with films like Masti and Main Hoon Na.

Her career took a setback when her following releases, Deewaar (2004), Vaah! Life Ho To Aisi (2005), Shikhar (2005), and Pyare Mohan (2006) did poorly at the box office. Things turned around when she starred in Sooraj R. Barjatya's blockbuster Vivah (2006) opposite Shahid Kapoor. The film was a universal success[5] and her performance was well appreciated by critics,[6] earning her a Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award.

Rao recently made her debut in Tollywood, with the Telugu hit Athidhi opposite Mahesh Babu.[7] Amrita had no releases in Bollywood in 2007. Amrita's first release of 2008 was My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves , which did not do very well at the box office but the subsequently released Welcome to Sajjanpur-where she played a village belle- did decently.

Awards and nominations

Filmfare Awards

Nominated

    * 2004: Filmfare Best Female Debut Award for Ishq Vishk

    * 2005: Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Main Hoon Na

Star Screen Awards

Nominated

    * 2003: Star Screen Award Most Promising Newcomer - Female for Ab Ke Baras

    * 2004: Star Screen Award Most Promising Newcomer - Female for Ishq Vishk

    * 2007: Star Screen Award Best Actress for Vivah[8]

    * 2007: Star Screen Award Jodi No. 1 along with Shahid Kapoor - Vivah[9]

Zee Cine Awards

Nominated

    * 2004: Zee Cine Award Best Female Debut for Ishq Vishk

International Indian Film Academy Awards

Winner

    * 2004: IIFA Awards, Best Female Debut for Ishq Vishk

Stardust Awards

Winner

    * 2004: Stardust Superstar of Tomorrow - Female for Ishq Vishk

    * 2009: Stardust Best Actress Award for Welcome to Sajjanpur

Other Awards

    * 2004: Sansui Awards, Best Debut - Female for Ishq Vishk

    * 2007: GR8 Women Awards, Young Achiever

    * 2007: Anandalok Puroshkar Awards, Most Promising New Talent for Vivah

    * 2007: Sports World Awards, Jodi of the Year along with Shahid Kapoor for Vivah

    * 2007: Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award for Vivah[10]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2002	Ab Ke Baras	Anjali Thapar/Nandini
	The Legend of Bhagat Singh	Mannewali
2003	Ishq Vishk	Payal Mehra	Nominated, Filmfare Best Female Debut Award
2004	Masti	Aanchal Mehta
	Main Hoon Na	Sanjana (Sanju) Bakshi	Nominated, Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award
	Deewaar	Radhika
2005	Vaah! Life Ho To Aisi	Piya
	Shikhar	Madhvi
2006	Pyare Mohan	Piya
	Vivah	Poonam
2007	Heyy Babyy		Special appearance in song Heyy Babyy
	Athidhi	Amrita	Telugu film
2008	My Name is Anthony Gonsalves	Riya
	Shaurya	Neerja Rathode	Cameo appearance[11]
	Welcome to Sajjanpur	Kamla	Winner, Stardust Best Actress Award
2009	Victory	Nandini