Indian Beauty Actress Aishwary Rai
Aishwarya RaiRai was born into an ethnic Bunt family in Mangalore, Karnataka. Her father, Krishnaraj, was a marine biologist, while her mother, Brindya, is a housewife. She has one elder brother, Aditya Rai, who is an engineer in the merchant navy. He co-produced one of her movies, Dil Ka Rishta (2003).
The family moved to Mumbai, where Rai attended the Arya Vidya Mandir High School. Rai did her intermediate schooling at Jai Hind College for a year, and then joined DG Ruparel College in Matunga, securing 90 percent in the HSC exams. She trained in classical dance and music for five years during her teens. Her favourite subject was zoology, so she initially considered a career in medicine. With plans to become an architect, she enrolled at Raheja College, but later gave up her education to pursue a career in modelling. One of her earliest modelling assignment was, when she was in the ninth grade, for Camlin Pencils. One of her professors at Jai Hind College took pictures of her which were published in a fashion magazine. In 1991 Rai took part in the Ford Supermodel Contest and also appeared in Vogue Magazine. She has been on the cover of Vogue three times. Rai became popular after appearing in a Pepsi commercial with actor Aamir Khan. She is one of the top brand ambassadors in the country and is one of the top paid Bollywood actresses in this respect. She modelled for Longines watches, L'Oréal, Coca-Cola, Lakmé Cosmetics, Casio pager, Philips, Palmolive, Lux, Fuji films and Kalyan Jewellers. She continued to model while pursuing her studies in architecture. She was named the official brand ambassador for De Beers diamonds in India. In the 1994 Miss India contest, she won second place, behind Sushmita Sen, and was crowned Miss India World. She went on to win the Miss World title the same year, where she also won the "Miss Photogenic" award. After winning the pageant, she gave up her studies and spent one year in London. Rai continued to pursue a career as a model until she became an actress. |