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Preity Zinta (Hindi: प्रीति ज़िंटा, Urdu: پریتی زینتا Pronunciation: /priːti ziɳʈaː/ born 31 January 1975 is an Indian actress who appears in popular Bollywood movies. She is among the most successful actresses in the industry.
Born in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, she studied at the Convent of Jesus and Mary School, Shimla. She comes from a Hindu Rajput family of Rohru in Shimla District. At first she was going to do a English honours but decided to pursue psychology [3]. She also attended Bombay University. After getting a degree in criminal psychology at the St. Bedes College, Zinta began her career as a model and commercial (ad films) actress (she was seen in Lyril's soap ad film).
Her father, Durganand Zinta was an officer in the Indian Army. Durganand Zinta died when Preity was thirteen, in a car accident in which her mother, Nilprabha Zinta was also involved. Her mother broke many bones in the accident, including her spine. Her mother was bedridden because of this incident. Zinta has two brothers, Deepankar Zinta and Manish Zinta, a year older and a year younger, respectively. Deepankar is a commissioned officer in the Indian Army.
Career
Preity Zinta was meant to make her acting debut with Shekhar Kapur's Tara Rum Pum Pum opposite Hrithik Roshan but the film never took off .
Technically her first film was Kundan Shah's Kya Kehna but it got delayed till 2000. The delay of another film Soldier meant that she made her acting debut with Dil Se (1998) . The film was her breakthrough role and she won the Filmfare Best Debut Award for her performance , which was only twenty minutes long . This was followed by the success of Soldier and Kya Kehna . Her role as a teenage single mother for the latter was well acclaimed and she received various nominations in the best actress category. latter, she had success with the films Mission Kashmir, Dil Chahta Hai and Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, that were average performers at the box office.
In 2003, Zinta was the female lead in three of year's highest grossing films: The Hero: Love Story of a Spy, Koi... Mil Gaya and Kal Ho Naa Ho. She won many awards for her role as Naina in Kal Ho Naa Ho. Her performance in the film got her the Filmfare Best Actress Award . Since then she has appeared in the averagely received Lakshya (2004) , the box office hit Veer-Zaara (2004) and the semi-hit Salaam Namaste (2005) which turned out to be one of the biggest hit overseas.
She joined a group of top stars (Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Rampal, and Priyanka Chopra) in the Temptation 2004 concert, which was a huge international success.
In May 2006, she along with Karan Johar received an invitation to represent Bollywood at the Cannes Film Festival. They took this opportunity to promote Johar's latest film Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna which Preity also stars in. The film which released in August 2006 has done very well at the box office. Her most recent film Jaan-E-Mann performed poorly at the box office.
Personal life
She is currently dating Ness Wadia, the heir to the Bombay Dyeing company. Gossip has linked her with many people in the industry.
Previously, when she was not shooting she used to return to her native town Shimla. Zinta recently moved into her own home in Mumbai, which she bought in mid-2005.
In 2003, Zinta was a witness in the Bharat Shah case and his links to the Mumbai mafia. She stuck by her statement that she received a threatening phone call from the mafia whilst she was shooting for the film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (2000) . She was given police protection and was forced to stay out of the public eye for months. Many other celebrities including Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan were witnesses in the case but they soon retracted their statements. Zinta was the only witness not to have turned hostile.
Awards and nominations
Awards won
1998: Star Screen Award Most Promising Newcomer - Female for Soldier
1998: Filmfare Best Debut Award for Dil Se
1998: Zee Cine Award Best Female Debut for Soldier
1998: Filmfare Lux New Face Award for Dil Se
2000: Bravery Award
2001: Sansui Award, Best Actress, Kya Kehna
2002: Walt Disney Children's Awards, Best Actress for Dil Chahta Hai
2003: IIFA Best Actress Award for Kal Ho Naa Ho
2003: Filmfare Best Actress Award for Kal Ho Naa Ho
2003: Zee Cine Award Superstar of the Year- Female for Kal Ho Naa Ho
2003: Zee Cine Award Queen of Hearts
2003: Stardust Star of the Year Award - Female for Kal Ho Naa Ho
2003: Asian Guild Best Actress Award for Koi... Mil Gaya
2003: Pogo Awards "Most Amazing Actress" for Kal Ho Naa Ho
2003: Chhoton Ka Funda Award for Koi... Mil Gaya
2003: Sansui Award, Best Actress for Kal Ho Naa Ho
2003: MTV Immies, Best Actress for Kal Ho Naa Ho
2003: Ficci awards, Best Actress Award for Kal Ho Naa Ho
2004: IIFA Style Diva of the Year Award
2004: Stardust Star of the Year Award - Female for Veer Zaara
2004: BBC Film Café, Best Actress, Veer-Zaara
2004: Star Screen Award Jodi No. 1 along with Shahrukh Khan for Veer Zaara
2004: MTV Lycra Awards,Most Stylish Actor Female For Veer Zaara
2005: IIFA Idea Glamorous Star Award
2006: MTV Lycra awards, Most Stylish Actor Female For Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
2006: Radio Sargam Bollywood Awards, Best supporting Actress For Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
Awards nominated
1998: Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Dil Se
2001: IIFA Best Actress Award for Kya Kehna
2001: Filmfare Best Actress Award for Kya Kehna
2001: Star Screen Award Best Actress for Kya Kehna
2002: IIFA Best Actress Award for Dil Chahta Hai
2002: Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Chori Chori Chupke Chupke
2002: Star Screen Award Best Actress for Dil Hai Tumhaara
2003: Filmfare Best Actress Award for Koi... Mil Gaya
2003: Filmfare Best Villain Award for Armaan
2003: Star Screen Award Best Actress for Kal Ho Naa Ho
2003: Star Screen Award Best Villain for Armaan
2003: Zee Cine Award Best Actor- Female for Kal Ho Naa Ho
2004: IIFA Best Actress Award for Veer Zaara
2004: Filmfare Best Actress Award for Veer Zaara
2004: Star Screen Award Best Actress for Veer Zaara
2004: Zee Cine Award Best Actor- Female for Veer Zaara
2005: IIFA Best Actress Award for Salaam Namaste
2005: Filmfare Best Actress Award for Salaam Namaste
2005: Star Screen Award Best Actress for Salaam Namaste
2005: Star Screen Award Jodi No. 1 along with Saif Ali Khan for Salaam Namaste
2005: Stardust Star of the Year Award - Female for Salaam Namaste
2005: Zee Cine Award Best Actor- Female for Salaam Namaste
2006: Global Indian Film Awards, Best Supporting Actress for Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
2007: Stardust Best Supporting Actress Award for Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
Trivia
Her trademark is her dimple.
Critics began to take notice of her after her performance in Kya Kehna.
She has worked four times with Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji.
Her good friends in the industry include Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Shahrukh Khan and Gauri Khan. Her very close friends are Hrithik Roshan and his wife Suzanne Khan Roshan.
She narrowly escaped death twice in late 2004, once after an explosion at a Temptation concert in Colombo, and later in the Indian Ocean Tsunami.
Zinta has written three columns for BBC South Asia.
She was on the cover of the first issue of Marie Claire magazine to be sold in India
