Lara Dutta is an Indian actress and model who was crowned Miss Intercontinental 1997 and Miss Universe 2000. She made her Bollywood debut in 2003 with movie Andaaz alongside Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra and for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.
In 1995, Lara won the annual Gladrags Megamodel India competition and competed in the 1997 Miss Intercontinental Pageant, which she won. She then took part in the Femina Miss India contest in 2000 and was crowned Femina Miss India Universe. She then took part in the 2000 Miss Universe contest in Cyprus and was crowned Miss Universe. The win led to her appointment as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador in 2001.
Lara was also elected as Miss Grand Slam 2000 by the pageant portal, Global Beauties, making her the first beauty pageant winner from India to win the title.
PERSONAL LIFE:
Lara Dutta was born on April 16, 1978 in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh to a Punjabi father and an Anglo-Indian mother. Her father is Wing Commander LK Dutta (retired), and her mother Jennifer Dutta, as per a picture Lara shared on her Instagram page, was first runner up at a Miss India contest. She has two elder sisters, Sabrina and Cheryl. She is married to Indian tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi and together they have a daughter.
She studied at St. Francis Xavier Girls' High School and Frank Anthony Public School, and then graduated with a degree in economics and a minor in communications from the University of Mumbai.
CAREER:
Lara made her Hindi movie debut in 2003 with Andaaz and it was a box office success which won her an award. In the same year, she starred in movie Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost, which also starred Abhishek Bachchan and Chunky Pandey.
In 2004, she made a special appearance in the song Aisa Jado in movie Khakee, and in the same year she starred in movie Bardaasht alongside actors Bobby Deol, Ritesh Deshmukh, Tara Sharma and Rahul Dev. It was followed by Tamil movie Arasatchi and Hindi movie Aan: Men at Work.
The next year she starred in six movies, namely, Insan, Elaan, Jurm, Kaal, No Entry and Dosti: Friends Forever. In 2006 she starred in Zinda and Bhagam Bhag and did cameo appearances in Alag and Fanaa.
In 2007 she acted in movies Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Partner, and made a cameo appearance in the song Deewangi Deewangi in movie Om Shanti Om. In 2008 she was the voice behind Sonia, a character in Bollywood animation movie Jumbo, and then she made a cameo appearance in the song Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte in the movie Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
She starred in movies Billu, Do Knot Disturb and Blue in 2009 and the following year she starred in Housefull. In 2011 she starred in Chalo Dilli and Don 2. Then in 2013, she acted in Tamil movie David and the Hindi version of the movie.
In 2015 she starred in movie Singh Is Bliing, and in 2016 acted in Azhar and made a special appearance in Fitoor. Then in 2018 she starred in movie Welcome To New York.
In 2019, Lara starred in British historical period drama television series set in 1795, Beecham House. The six-part series was first shown on June 23, 2019.
OTHER WORK:
Lara recently launched her own line of beauty care products named Arias which is a vegetarian beauty line informed by her own experiences as an actor, model and a mother.
SOCIAL:
Lara Dutta keeps her followers updated through Facebook - Lara Dutta Bhupathi/@LaraDuttaBhupathiOfficial, Twitter - Lara Dutta Bhupathi/@LaraDutta, and Instagram - Lara Dutta Bhupathi/@larabhupathi.
