Priyanka Chopra is an Indian actress and producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is one of India's highest-paid actresses and has received numerous accolades, including two National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards. In 2016, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri, and Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In the next two years, Forbes listed her among the World's 100 Most Powerful Women, and in 2022, she was named in the BBC 100 Women list.

Chopra accepted offers to join the Indian film industry following her pageant wins. Her acting debut came in the Tamil film Thamizhan (2002), followed by her first Bollywood feature in The Hero: Love Story of a Spy (2003). She played the leading lady in the box-office hits Andaaz (2003) and Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004) and had her breakout role in the 2004 romantic thriller Aitraaz. Chopra established herself with starring roles in the top-grossing productions Krrish and Don (both 2006), and later reprised her role in their sequels. For playing a troubled model in the drama Fashion (2008), Chopra won a National Film Award and a Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Chopra gained further praise for portraying a range of characters in the films Kaminey (2009), 7 Khoon Maaf (2011), Barfi! (2012), Mary Kom (2014), and Bajirao Mastani (2015).

From 2015 to 2018, Chopra starred as Alex Parrish in the ABC thriller series Quantico, becoming the first South Asian to headline an American network drama series. Founding the production company Purple Pebble Pictures in 2015, she produced several films under it, including the Marathi films Ventilator (2016) and Paani (2019), and the Hindi biopic The Sky Is Pink (2019). Chopra has also acted in Hollywood films, such as Baywatch (2017), Isn't It Romantic (2019), The White Tiger (2021), and The Matrix Resurrections (2021).

Chopra ventured into music by releasing three singles and into writing with her memoir Unfinished (2021), which reached The New York Times Best Seller list. Her other ventures include tech investments, a haircare brand, a restaurant, and a homeware line. She promotes social causes such as environment and women's rights and is vocal about gender equality, the gender pay gap, and feminism. She has worked with UNICEF since 2006 and was appointed as the national and global UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for child rights in 2010 and 2016, respectively. Her namesake foundation for health and education works towards providing support to underprivileged Indian children. Despite maintaining privacy, Chopra's off-screen life, including her marriage to American singer and actor Nick Jonas, is the subject of substantial media coverage. The couple has one daughter. On Instagram, Chopra is the most followed Indian actor.

Early Life

Chopra was born on 18 July 1982 in Jamshedpur, Bihar (present-day Jharkhand), to Ashok and Madhu Chopra, both physicians in the Indian Army. Her father was a Punjabi Hindu from Ambala. Her mother, Madhu Chopra from Jharkhand is the eldest daughter of Dr. Manohar Kishan Akhouri, a former Congress veteran, and Madhu Jyotsna Akhouri, a former member of Bihar Legislative Assembly.

Chopra's maternal grandmother, Mrs. Akhouri, was a Malayali Jacobite Syrian Christian originally named Mary John, belonging to the Kavalappara family of Kumarakom, Kottayam district, Kerala. Chopra has a brother, Siddharth, who is seven years her junior. Bollywood actresses Parineeti Chopra, Meera Chopra, and Mannara Chopra are cousins.

Owing to Chopra's parents' professions as military physicians, the family was posted in a number of places in India, including Delhi, Chandigarh, Ambala, Ladakh, Lucknow, Bareilly, and Pune. Among the schools she attended were La Martiniere Girls' School in Lucknow and St. Maria Goretti College in Bareilly.

In an interview published in Daily News and Analysis, Chopra said that she did not mind travelling regularly and changing schools; she welcomed it as a new experience and a way to discover India's multicultural society. Among the many places that she lived, Chopra has fond memories as a child of playing in the valleys of Leh, in the cold northwestern Indian desert region of Ladakh. She had said, "I think I was in Class 4 when I was in Leh. My brother was just born. My dad was in the army and was posted there. I stayed in Leh for a year, and my memories of that place are tremendous. We were all army kids there. We weren't living in houses, we were in bunkers in the valley and there was a stupa right on top of a hill which used to overlook our valley. We used to race up to the top of the stupa". She now considers Bareilly her home town, and maintains strong connections there.

At 13, Chopra moved to the United States to study, living with her aunt, and attending schools in Newton, Massachusetts, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after a stop in Queens, New York, as her aunt's family also moved frequently. While in Massachusetts, she participated in several theatre productions, and studied Western classical music, and choral singing. During her teenage years in the United States, Chopra sometimes faced racial issues and was bullied for being Indian by an African-American classmate. She has said, “I was a gawky kid, had low self-esteem, came from a modest middle-class background, had white marks on my legs. But I was damn hard working. Today, my legs sell 12 brands.” After three years, Chopra returned to India, finishing the senior year of her high-school education at the Army Public School in Bareilly.

During this period, Chopra won the local May Queen beauty pageant, after which she was pursued by admirers; her family equipped their home with bars for her protection. Her mother entered her in the Femina Miss India contest of 2000; she finished second, winning the Femina Miss India World title. Chopra next won the Miss World pageant, where she was crowned Miss World 2000 and Miss World Continental Queen of Beauty—Asia & Oceania at the Millennium Dome in London on 30 November 2000. Chopra was the fifth Indian contestant to win Miss World, and the fourth to do so within seven years. She had enrolled in college, but left after winning the Miss World pageant. Chopra said that the Miss India and Miss World titles brought her recognition, and she began receiving offers for film roles.

Acting Career

Career Beginnings and Breakthrough (2002-2004)

After winning Miss India World, Chopra was cast as the female lead in Abbas–Mustan's romantic thriller Humraaz (2002), in which she was to make her film debut. However, this fell through for various reasons: she stated the production conflicted with her schedule, while the producers said they recast because Chopra took on various other commitments. Her screen debut occurred in the 2002 Tamil film Thamizhan as the love interest of the protagonist, played by Vijay. A review published in The Hindu was appreciative of the film for its wit and dialogue; however it felt that Chopra's role was limited from an acting viewpoint.

In 2003, Chopra made her Bollywood film debut as the second female lead opposite Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta in Anil Sharma's The Hero: Love Story of a Spy. Set against the backdrop of the Indian Army in Kashmir, the film tells the story of an RAW agent's fight against terrorism. The Hero emerged as one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films that year, but received mixed reviews from critics. Derek Elley from Variety said that “mega-looker Chopra makes a solid screen debut.” Later that year she appeared in Raj Kanwar's box-office success Andaaz with Akshay Kumar, sharing the female lead with debutante Lara Dutta. Chopra played a vivacious young woman who falls in love with Kumar's character. The Hindustan Times noted the glamour that she brought to the role; Kunal Shah of Sify praised her performance and stated she had “all the qualities to be a star.” Her performance earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut (along with Dutta) and a Best Supporting Actress nomination.

Chopra's first three releases in 2004—Plan, Kismat, and Asambhav—performed poorly at the box office. Chopra was typically cast during this earlier period as a "glamour quotient", in roles that were considered forgettable by film critic Joginder Tuteja. Later that year she starred with Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar in David Dhawan's romantic comedy Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, which opened to commercial success and emerged the third-highest-grossing film of the year in India.

In late 2004, she starred opposite Kumar and Kareena Kapoor in Abbas–Mustan's romantic thriller Aitraaz. Chopra considers her first role as an antagonist, portraying Soniya Roy, an ambitious woman who accuses her employee of sexual harassment, as the "biggest learning experience of her career". The film was a critical and commercial success, and Chopra's performance received critical acclaim. The Hindustan Times cited it as the film that changed her career significantly. A reviewer writing for the BBC said, “Aitraaz is Chopra's film. As the deliciously wicked, gold digging, scheming seductress, she chews up every scene she is in with her magnetic screen presence.” She won a Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role, becoming the second and final actress to win the award after Kajol (the category was discontinued in 2008). Chopra also received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress, and the Producers Guild Film Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

Rise to Prominence (2005-2006)

In 2005, Chopra appeared in 6 films. Her first two releases, the action thrillers Blackmail and Karam, were critically and commercially unsuccessful. Shilpa Bharatan-Iyer of Rediff.com considered Blackmail to be a very predictable film and believed that her role as a police commissioner's wife was very limited from an acting point of view. Her performance in Karam was better received, Subhash K. Jha wrote that Chopra “with her poised interpretation of high drama, flies high creating a character whose vulnerability and beauty are endorsed by both the inner and outer worlds created for her character.” Later that year Chopra played the wife of Akshay Kumar in Vipul Amrutlal Shah's family drama Waqt: The Race Against Time, the story of a small businessman (played by Amitabh Bachchan) who, hiding his illness, wants to teach his irresponsible son some lessons before he dies. During production, Chopra revisited Leh, a favourite childhood haunt, for the shooting of the song "Subah Hogi". She suffered an accident during the filming for the song "Do Me A Favour Let's Play Holi" when she electrocuted herself, spending a day recovering in hospital. The film was well received by critics, and was a commercial success.

Further Success (2012-2014)

Chopra's first film of 2012 was Karan Malhotra's action drama Agneepath, in which she starred with Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt and Rishi Kapoor. Produced by Karan Johar, the film is a remake of his father's 1990 production of the same name. In one of several accidents to happen during production, Chopra's lehenga (a traditional skirt) caught fire while filming a sequence for an elaborate Ganpati festival song. She featured as Kaali Gawde, Roshan's loquacious love interest in the film. Mayank Shekhar noted how much Chopra stood out in the male-dominated film. Agneepath broke Bollywood's highest opening-day earnings record, and had a worldwide gross of ₹1.93 billion (US$24 million). Chopra next co-starred with Shahid Kapoor in Kunal Kohli's romance, Teri Meri Kahaani. The film relates the stories of three unconnected couples (each played by Kapoor and Chopra), born in different eras.

Anurag Basu's Barfi!, with Ranbir Kapoor and Ileana D'Cruz, was her final appearance of 2012. Set in the 1970s, the film tells the story of three people, two of whom are physically disabled. Chopra played Jhilmil Chatterjee, an autistic woman who falls in love with a deaf, mute man (Kapoor). Director Rituparno Ghosh considered it a "very, very brave" role to accept given how demanding it is for an actor to convincingly portray a woman with autism. To prepare for the role, Chopra visited several mental institutions and spent time with autistic people. The film received critical acclaim and was a major commercial success, earning ₹1.75 billion (US$22 million) worldwide. Rachit Gupta of Filmfare found Chopra to be the film's "surprise package" and found her performance to be "the best representation of [autism] on Indian celluloid". Pratim D. Gupta of The Telegraph highly praised Kapoor and Chopra, although he found her to be a "tad showy" in her part. Chopra received Best Actress nominations at the Filmfare, Screen, IIFA and Producers Guild Film Awards. The film was chosen as India's entry for the 85th Academy Awards. Agneepath and Barfi! ranked among the highest grossing Bollywood films to that point.

In 2013, she lent her voice to the character of Ishaani, the reigning Pan-Asian champion from India and the love interest of the main protagonist in the Disneytoon Studios film Planes, a spinoff of Pixar's Cars franchise. Chopra, a fan of Disney films, had fun voicing the character saying "The closest I could come to being a Disney princess, I think, was Ishaani". The film was a commercial success, grossing approximately US$240 million worldwide. She played an NRI girl in the Apoorva Lakhia's bilingual action drama Zanjeer (Thoofan in Telugu), a remake of the 1973 Hindi film of the same name, which met with poor reactions from critics and was unsuccessful at the box office. Chopra next reprised her role of Priya in Rakesh Roshan's Krrish 3—a sequel to the 2006 superhero film Krrish—with Hrithik Roshan, Vivek Oberoi and Kangana Ranaut. Critics felt that Chopra had very little to do in the film. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV writing that she "is saddled with a sketchily written role and is reduced to the status of a hanger-on waiting for things to unfold". The feature became a box-office success, earning over ₹3 billion (US$38 million) worldwide, to become Chopra's biggest commercial success to that point and her fourth major hit in two years. She danced a contemporary mujra in the song "Ram Chahe Leela" for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela.

In 2014, Chopra played the lead female role in Yash Raj Films's romantic action drama Gunday directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, alongside Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor and Irrfan Khan. She portrayed Nandita, a cabaret dancer in Calcutta. Set in the 1970s, the film tells the story of two best friends who fall in love with Nandita. Gunday proved to be a box-office success, grossing over ₹1 billion (US$13 million) worldwide. Chopra next starred as the title character in Mary Kom, a biographical film of the five time world boxing champion and Olympic bronze medalist Mary Kom. To prepare for the role, she spent time with Kom and received four months of boxing training. The film premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, received positive reviews from critics, and her performance received critical acclaim. Sudhish Kamath from The Hindu criticized the film's screenplay but praised Chopra's "knockout" performance, writing "The spirited actress rises above the material and makes us invest in her and does full justice to the spirit" of the boxer. The Indo-Asian News Service review noted the actress for expressing every shade of the character with "a pitch-perfect bravado". Mary Kom emerged as a commercial success, with revenues of ₹1.04 billion (US$13 million) at the box office. She won the Screen Award for Best Actress, the Producers Guild Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and received another nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.

Streaming Projects (2020-present)

Chopra's only release of 2020 was the Netflix children's superhero film We Can Be Heroes directed by Robert Rodriguez. She starred as Ms. Granada, the director of a superhero organisation called Heroics. The feature received generally positive reviews; Richard Roeper from the Chicago Sun-Times praised the actress for "livening up the proceedings" as the strait-laced Ms. Granada, and Ian Freer of the Empire magazine felt that she did the "kids' film acting to the hilt". Chopra's first film of 2021 was Ramin Bahrani's The White Tiger, an adaptation of Aravind Adiga's satirical novel of the same name. She starred alongside Adarsh Gourav and Rajkummar Rao, and also executive produced this Netflix production. Critical reviews towards the film and her performance were positive. Writing for The Times, film critic Kevin Maher deemed Chopra's performance "impressive" and The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney commended her for bringing "emotional depth" to her role. The film received a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination at the 93rd Academy Awards. Later that year, Chopra had a supporting role in the science fiction film The Matrix Resurrections.

Chopra will next star alongside Richard Madden in Amazon Prime Video's thriller series Citadel. She will then lead the romantic comedy Love Again opposite Sam Heughan and Celine Dion. As a producer, she has signed a multimillion-dollar first-look TV deal with Amazon Prime Video to back content by first time BIPOC and female filmmakers.

Awards and Nominations

Chopra has won a National Film Award for Best Actress for Fashion (2008) and five Filmfare Awards: Best Female Debut for Andaaz (2003), Best Performance in a Negative Role for Aitraaz (2004), Best Actress for Fashion (2008), Critics Award for Best Actress for 7 Khoon Maaf (2011), and Best Supporting Actress for Bajirao Mastani (2015). She has also won two People's Choice Awards: "Favourite Actress In A New TV Series", and "Favorite Dramatic TV Actress" for Quantico. She is the first South Asian actress to win a People's Choice Award. In 2016, she was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, by the Government of India for her contribution to arts and was honored as one of the BBC 100 Women in 2022.

Books

• Chopra, Priyanka (9 February 2021). Unfinished. New York: Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-1-984819-21-5.