Aishwarya Rai is a popular Bollywood actress. She was born on 1 November 1973 in Mangalore, Karnataka. Her zodiac sign is Scorpio. She completed her schooling from Arya Vidya Mandir, Mumbai. She was pursuing a degree from Jai Hind College and DG Ruparel College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai, but she dropped out of college. 

Her father, Krishnraj Rai was a biologist in Indian Army. Her mother, Vrinda Rai is a homemaker. She has a brother, Aditya Rai, who works as an engineer in Indian Navy. She is the daughter-in-law of Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan.

She is married to Abhishek Bachchan. They have a daughter, Aradhya Bachchan. 

Aishwarya’s favourites

Her hobbies include knitting and reading books. Aishwarya has a large collection of branded watches. 

She likes to eat chicken curry and chocolate.

Her favourite actors are Amitabh Bachchan, Raj Kapoor and Nargis.

The movie she loves the most is ‘Casablanca’.

Her favourite directors are Mani Ratnam and Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

She loves wearing black, blue and white colours. 

Her favourite book is ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho.

Aishwarya often wears the perfume ‘Happy’ by Clinique.

Giorgio Armani is her favourite fashion designer. 

Her favourite travelling destinations are France, Dubai and South Africa.

Aishwarya owns an Audi A8 car.

She earns around Rs 9 to 10 crore for one film.

Interesting facts about Aishwarya Rai

When Aishwarya was in grade 9, she did her first advertisement for Camlin pencils. 

Aishwarya was a bright student and always scored above 90 percent marks in her class.

As a kid, Aishwarya liked the biology subject. According to her, she would have gone on to become a doctor or an architect, had she not pursued a career in acting field.

In grade 12, Aishwarya was a photojournalist for her school. Her English teacher asked her to do a photoshoot for a fashion magazine. After the photoshoot, she started receiving modelling offers. Aishwarya rejected all of them as she wanted to focus on her studies at that time. 

After completing class 12th, Aishwarya accepted a modelling offer from an international company.

Aishwarya tried working as a voice artist but did not succeed. 

In 1993, she came into limelight after she did an advertisement for Pepsi with Amir Khan and Mahima Chaudhary.

Winning Miss World title

In the year 1994, Aishwarya lost to Sushmita Sen in Miss India beauty pageant. 

On 19 November 1994, Aishwarya Rai won the title of Miss World, which was held in South Africa. 

Julia Roberts, the famous Hollywood actress, once said that Aishwarya Rai is the most beautiful woman in the world.

Aishwarya is also a trained classical dancer.

Aishwarya’s debut

In 1997, she made her debut in the Bollywood film industry with the film ‘Aur Pyar Ho Gaya’. The same year, she was seen in her first Tamil film ‘Iruvar’.

In 2002, during the filming of the iconic song ‘Dola Re Dola’, her ears started bleeding due to heavy earrings. 

Following the success of the film Devdas (2002), Mattel released the ‘Aishwarya Rai Barbie doll’ in the United Kingdom as a limited edition. 

In 2003, Aishwarya Rai became the second Indian actress to have her photo published on the cover of Time magazine. Parveen Babi was the first Indian actress.

In 2004, she became the first Indian actress whose wax statue was installed in Madame Tussauds Museum in London.

International film offers

The same year, she was offered the role of ‘Briseis’ in the Hollywood film ‘Troy’, but she declined the offer.

She founded the ‘Aishwarya Rai Foundation’ in 2004.

A variety of tulip flowers in the Netherlands is named after Aishwarya Rai. 

Aishwarya's family owns a production company ‘Target Films’, of which she is the co-owner.

She has been the star campaigner of Eye Bank Association of India (EBAI), PETA India and Pulse Polio campaign.

In 2004, Time magazine ranked Aishwarya Rai on its list of the 100 Most Influential People in the world.

Aishwarya’s marriage

In the year 2007, she married Abhishek Bachchan.

Her lavish wedding cost around Rs 6 crore. She wore a 50-carat solitaire engagement ring worth Rs 50 lakh. Around 15 kilograms of gold jewellery was gifted to her. 

After her marriage, Aishwarya adopted the Bachchan family's surname. 

In the year 2009, she became the first Indian and South Asian actress to appear on the famous ‘Oprah Winfrey Show’. 

She is a very good friend of Preity Zinta and Twinkle Khanna.

Her friends call her Aish or Gullu. 

She suffers from Katsaridaphobia, which is a fear of cockroaches. 

Aishwarya’s filmography

In 2008, ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ was released. It is a classic and widely liked movie. 

Ranbir Kapoor met Aishwarya Rai as a kid in 1998 and 18 years later, he worked with Aishwarya in the film 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil'.

Some of her popular movies are, Dhoom (2004), Raavanan (2010), Umrao Jaan )2006), Guzaarish (2010), Guru (2007), Mohabbatein (2000), Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), Taal (1999), Sarbjit (2016) and Fanney Khan (2018).

Aishwarya’s latest projects

In 2022, Aishwarya was seen in ‘Ponniyin Selvan 1’. Her co-actors were Trisha Krishnan, Sobhita Dhulipala, Vikram and Sara Arjun. 

On 28 April 2023, second part of ‘Ponniyin Selva’ came out. The film has been made under the direction of Mani Ratnam.