Deepika
Padukone
In 2006, Padukone made her acting
debut through the Kannada film
Aishwarya. The following year, she made her Hindi
film debut in Om Shanti Om, for
which she earned the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. It remains her biggest
commercial success. She subsequently appeared in Love Aaj Kal (2009) and
Housefull (2010). While the former earned her a Filmfare nomination in
the Best Actress category, the latter emerged as a commercial success. Soon
after, Padukone featured in Homi Adajania's commercially successful dramedy, Cocktail
(2012) and earned unanimous critical appreciation for her performance.
In addition to acting, Padukone is
also the ambassador of prominent brands such as Tissot, Sony Cybershot, Yamaha, Nescafe
and Garnier.
Early
life and background
Padukone was born in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Her father, Prakash Padukone,
is a former badminton
player of international repute, and her mother is a travel agent. Her father
was then training in Denmark in the sport and when she was eleven months old
her family moved to Bangalore,
Karnataka, India. Padukone has a younger sister, Anisha, born on 2
February 1991.
Padukone attended Sophia High School
in Bangalore, and completed her pre-university
studies at Mount Carmel College
Bangalore. While in high school she played badminton at the state level. However, she was not keen on pursuing a
career as a badminton player. During the time of her film debut she was
enrolled with the Indira Gandhi National Open University in Bachelors
of Arts (Sociology).
Career
Early
modeling career, until 2006
While in college, Padukone pursued a
career in modeling. She was spotted in a ramp competition in NLS, Bangalore.
Over the years, she has modeled for such Indian brands as Liril, Dabur Lal
powder, Close-Up
toothpaste and Limca, and has been "brand ambassador" for the Jewels
of India retail jewelry
show. The cosmetics company Maybelline made her its international spokesperson.
At the fifth annual Kingfisher
Fashion Awards she was awarded the title "Model of the Year".Shortly
afterward, she was chosen as one of the models for the Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar
for 2006 and won two trophies at the Idea Zee Fashion Awards: "Female
Model of the Year (Commercial Assignments)" and "Fresh Face of the
Year". Padukone was also chosen as the brand ambassador of Levi Strauss.
In addition, she appeared in the music
video for Himesh Reshammiya's song "Naam
Hai Tera