Amrita Rao Biography with Pictures

Amrita Deepak Rao was born on the 7th June 1981, in Mumbai, India. Her current height is 5' 5" (1.65 m)

She was born in the Rao family and speaks Konkani. Her family is known to be well-to-do, with her father being the owner and director of an advertising agency.

She was studying in C.G High School in Mumbai, and later enrolled in Sophia College for a degree in psychology. While studying there, she auditioned for an advertisement for Fairever Face Cream, and was selected amongst 60 other contestants. She eventually graduated and now has a degree in psychology.

No stranger to cameras and bright lights, she has modeled for approximately 35 advertisements. Amongst other assignments that got her noticed were Hindustan Lever's 'Close-up' Cadbury's Perk, & Nestle Bru Coffee. Ken Ghosh approached Amrita for his debut movie Ishq Vishq after seeing her in the perk commercial, where she plays a hungry bride eagerly awaiting the arrival of her husband on the religious occasion of 'Karva Chauth'. Amrita Rao is also a Brand Ambassador for D'Damas Gold Jewellery, Parachute Hair Oil, and Miss Players Apparels.

She began her career as a model, but eventually started acting, with her debut in Ab Ke Baras (2002). While this first movie went unnoticed, she started being famous when she starred in Ishq Vishk (Ken Ghosh's love-story) (2003) earning her first Filmfare nomination in the Best Female Debut category. She proceeded to gain a lot of fame with films like Main Hoon Na (2004) and Vivah (2006), her biggest commercial success so far, which propelled her into the highest tier of Bollywood actresses and earned her a Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award.

So far she has won 6 awards, mostly related to her performances in 'Ishq Vishk' and 'Vivah'.

Barely 12 movies' old, she is already quite well-known for her skilled performances and her dancing talent. Madhuri Dixit went ga-ga over her performance at the Filmfare Awards 2007. Renowned artist M.F Hussain chose her as his Muse and theme of paintings after Madhuri Dixit.

She also has a Telegu movie to her credit which turned out a huge box office hit. She is fluent in English, Hindi, Marathi, and Konkani. She is passionate about reading short stories.

She has co-starred with Shahid Kapur, Zayed Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Akshay Khanna, and Mahesh Babu.

A winner of the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Academy Award at the young age of 25, Amrita Rao is all set for her successful innings at Bollywood.

Amrita Rao was born in Mumbai, to a well-to-do Saraswat Brahmin family, on June 7th 1981. In Sanskrit "Amrita" is a drink which gives you immortality. This model-turned-actress has got the talent and beauty to be immortal in viewers mind.

Amrita never really dreamed to be an actress because she thought that with no contacts in the film industry, it would be a tough battle to establish herself there. But not only has she made it to Bollywood, she is widely considered as the next big thing. Even though she has just acted in ten films so far, one of them is from Sooraj Barjatya. Her beauty bowled over acclaimed international painter M.F Husain and inspired him to make a series of paintings depicting her and her film "Vivah".

It all started when, while studying psychology at the Sophia College in Mumbai, she auditioned for "Fairever Cream" and to her surprise, got selected from among 60 other contestants. The close-up Ad campaign followed and it became a big success, granting her loads of offers. Within a year, she became one of the most sought-after models in India.

Her Cadbury's Perk and Nestle Bru Coffee advertisements fetched her offers from top directors, but she was apprehensive at first, as she wanted to complete her studies. After completing her studies, she signed Raj Kanwar's "Ab Ke Baras" which was also Raj Babbar's son Aarya's launch vehicle. The film didn't do as well as expected; she also got an offer to act in a historical film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi's "The legend of Bagath Singh", even though it was a small role.

"Ishq Vishk", with Shahid Kapur became a huge hit and earned her the girl-next-door image. She also won the best debutante award from Filmfare, Stardust and IIFA for the movie. She followed up the success with "Masti", a sex-comedy and "Main Hoon Na", which featured Shah Rukh Khan and gave her worldwide popularity. She also acted in "Deewaar", "Vaah! Life Ho To Aisi", "Shikhar", and "Pyare Mohan".

"Vivah", the Sooraj Barjatya movie is a big turning point of her career. Not only is the film a big success worldwide, but she has also gained a huge fan following of all ages through it. She and her co-star in the film, Shahid Kapur are considered the most promising pair after Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol.

The best thing about Amrita is that not only is she beautiful and talented,but she also has no hang-ups and is very down-to-earth, which makes her easy to work with. She has two films lined-up - "My Name is Anthony Gonsalves" and Telugu film "Athidhi". After "Vivah" she has lots of offers coming her way, but like before, she is taking it slow, waiting for the right scripts, because she knows "Slow and steady wins the race!"

Posted in: Amrita Rao Gallery