Deepika Padukone is one of the most prominent actresses in Hindi cinema, as well as a high profile model. She is the daughter of the professional badminton player Prakash Padukone and was brought up in Bangalore. Although she initially trained to be a badminton player, she quit in order to pursue her passion for modelling. After some modelling projects, she started to get film offers and made her film debut with the Kannada film Aishwarya (2006). However, before that, she had appeared on screen in the music video for “Naam Hai Tera” by Himesh Reshammiya. She made her Hindi film debut with Om Shanti Om (2007), a highly successful film, in which her performance was also critically appreciated. It won her both the Filmfare Award and the Indian International Film Academy Award for the Best Debut as well. After this she bagged major roles in films like Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008), Love Aaj Kal (2009), Housefull (2010), and Break Ke Baad (2010). She then starred alongside Saif Ali Khan and Diana Penty in Cocktail (2012) which was another major success for her. After this she acted in the romantic comedy Chennai Express (2013), and then the romantic tragedy Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013), thus showcasing her versatility as an actress. Her next critically significant role was in Finding Fanny (2014) where she perfectly portrayed a small town Goan girl going on a big adventure.

After this, Piku (2015) was her next major release where her lead role brought her much critical acclaim and even won her the Filmfare Award for the Best Actress. Later in the same year, she played the lead role of Mastani in Bajirao Mastani (2015) alongside Ranveer Singh, delivering yet another spectacular performance and earning a Filmfare Nomination.

She is currently dating Ranveer Singh, after having been in relationships with Ranbir Kapoor and Siddharth Mallya.