Deepika Padukone

Deepika Padukone (born 5 January 1986) is an Indian actress who works mainly in Hindi films. She is among the country's highest-paid actresses and has won three Filmfare Awards. Time included her in its list of the world's 100 most influential people in 2018, and gave her its Time100 Impact Award in 2022. She also produces films through her company, Ka Productions.

Early life and background

Padukone was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her father is the former badminton champion Prakash Padukone. The family moved to Bangalore when she was a year old, and she studied at Sophia High School and then Mount Carmel College. As a teenager she played badminton in national-level championships. She later gave up the sport for modelling, and in 2005 she was named Model of the Year at the Kingfisher Fashion Awards.

Career

Debut and early films (2006–2011)

Her first film was the Kannada romantic comedy Aishwarya (2006), in which she played the title role. Her Hindi debut came the next year in Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om, where she played two roles opposite Shah Rukh Khan. The film was the year's highest-grossing Hindi release and won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. She received good reviews for playing Meera Pandit, a career-minded young woman, in Imtiaz Ali's Love Aaj Kal (2009). After that, several of her releases from 2010 and 2011 did poorly.

Established lead (2012–2016)

Padukone has called Cocktail (2012) the turning point of her career. In it she played Veronica, a free-spirited party girl. In 2013 she appeared in four of the year's top-grossing Hindi films: Race 2, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Chennai Express and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela. The last of these won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Her second Best Actress award came for Piku (2015), Shoojit Sircar's comedy-drama, where she played the strong-willed daughter of Amitabh Bachchan's character. In the same year she played the warrior-princess Mastani in Bhansali's Bajirao Mastani, and she learned sword-fighting, horse-riding and kalaripayattu for the part.

Hollywood and producing (2017–2022)

Padukone made her Hollywood debut opposite Vin Diesel in XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017). The next year she played Rani Padmavati in Bhansali's Padmaavat, one of the highest-grossing Indian films. In 2018 she also set up Ka Productions. Its first film was Chhapaak (2020), in which she played an acid-attack survivor. She co-produced 83 (2021), in which she also appeared, and starred in Gehraiyaan (2022) on Amazon Prime Video. In 2022 she was a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

Big-budget action (2023–present)

She has spent the past few years in large-scale action films. She starred opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Pathaan (2023) and had a special appearance in Jawan the same year. Both films grossed more than ₹10 billion. In 2024 she appeared in Fighter with Hrithik Roshan, the Telugu science-fiction epic Kalki 2898 AD and Rohit Shetty's Singham Again.

Selected filmography

• 2006 — Aishwarya — Aishwarya (Kannada)
• 2007 — Om Shanti Om — Dual role
• 2009 — Love Aaj Kal — Meera Pandit
• 2012 — Cocktail — Veronica
• 2013 — Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani — Naina Talwar
• 2013 — Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela — Leela
• 2015 — Piku — Headstrong daughter
• 2015 — Bajirao Mastani — Mastani
• 2017 — XXX: Return of Xander Cage — Lead
• 2018 — Padmaavat — Rani Padmavati
• 2023 — Pathaan — Lead
• 2024 — Kalki 2898 AD — Lead (Telugu)

Awards and honours

• Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut — Om Shanti Om
• Filmfare Award for Best Actress — Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela and Piku
• Screen Award for Best Actress — Chennai Express and Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, and later Piku
• Time 100 most influential people (2018) and Time100 Impact Award (2022)
• World Economic Forum Crystal Award (2018), for her work on mental-health awareness through The Live Love Laugh Foundation, which she founded

Recent and upcoming work

Padukone's next two films are Atlee's Raaka, opposite Allu Arjun, and the action film King, which reunites her with Shah Rukh Khan.

She is married to actor Ranveer Singh, and the couple have two daughters.