Model turned actress Deepika
was born in Mangalore,
Karnataka in the year 1986. She is the eldest daughter of former World badminton Champion
Prakash
Padukone and Ujjala Padukone. She
has a younger sister named Anisha.
Deepika did her schooling in Sophia High
School, Bangalore. During this time she was into badminton, following her famous
father's foot steps and even reached the
level of a State player. But eventually she left the scene to complete her board exams.
While pursuing her
graduation in Mount Carmel College, her sights
fell on the glamorous world of showbiz.
She started her career as a model endorsing leading brands like Liril soap, Limca, Close-Up toothpaste,
Kingfisher and several other products, including international
cosmetics giant Maybelline.
Her sensuous photographs appearing on the 2006 Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar virtually proved that she is indeed a supermodel in her own right.
The pretty svelte model won
numerous awards for her modeling style. She won the Society Young Achievers' Award 2004, Model of the Year Award
2005 at the Lakme India Fashion Week and bagged two trophies at the
Idea Zee F Awards in 2006 - Female Model of the year (Commercial Assignments)
and Fresh Face of the year.
The stunning 5' 9" girl made her debut in Himesh Reshammiya's music
album 'Aap Ka Suroor'.In 2006, Deepika entered the
glamour world of movies through the Kannada flick 'Aishwarya' starring opposite Kannada
hero, Upendra. The following year she made her more than successful Bollywood debut 'Om
Shanti Om'(2007). with Shahrukh Khan in the lead. The role of superstar
Shantipriya in the block buster film was definitely a turning point in her career.
The pretty young actress is now getting a shower of offers from well known
directors. She sure seems to be on
her way to be the next big thing in
Bollywood.