CELEBRITYPROFILES

Vidya’s father PR Balan is the Vice-President of etc Network while her mother is a homemaker. She also has a sister named Priya.
Vidya went to St Antony's School in Chembur and graduated in Sociology from St Xavier’s College. The actress can speak English, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Bengali very well.
In 1998, this elegant beauty started her career as a model in the Surf Excel advertisement. Later she appeared in more than 25 advertising short films such as Ponds, Bajaj and others.
She acted in a few music videos for Euphoria, Shubha Mudgal and Pankaj Udhas.
She was also seen in TV serials such as Ashok Pandit's Hanste Khelte and Ekta Kapoor’s Hum Paanch as well as a Bengali movie Bhalo Theko with actor Joy Sengupta. She won the Best Actress Award, Anand Lok Puraskar for this movie in Kolkatta.
Vidya Balan debuted in Bollywood with the film Parineeta (2005), which was a huge success. She won the Filmfare Best Debut Award for the same.
In 2006, she received her first commercial success with Rajkumar Hirani’s Lage Raho MunnaBhai and has thus established herself as one of the most promising actresses in the industry.