Vidya Balan is a Tamilian from Kerala. She is from the Iyer community. She comes from a middleclass family from Palghat, on the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Vidya did her schooling from St Antony’s School and later on joined St Xavier’s College from where she graduated in sociology.

When she was doing her MA from Mumbai University, she was offered a role in a Malayalam film titled Chakram with Mohanlal, one of Vidya’s favorite actors. However, the project was shelved mid-way and Vidya had to wait for few more years to make her movie debut.

She made her debut as a model in a Surf Excel advertisement in 1998. She has acted in scores of ad films, most of which were directed by Pradeep Sarkar.

A couple of months later, she featured in three music videos (again directed by Sarkar) for ?Euphoria?, Shubha Mudgal and Pankaj Udhas.

Vidya Balan started work as an actress in the Malayalam movie Chakram, paired against Mohanlal, however the film was abandoned mid-way through production. After making her debut in television advertising as a model for a Surf Excel advertisement in 1998, she proceeded to do over 25 TV ads, (mostly directed by Pradeep Sarkar), followed with a variety of acting stints in music videos (Euphoria, Shubha Mudgal and Pankaj Udhas), Hindi TV soap operas (Hanste Khelte and Hum Paanch) and a Bengali movie, Bhaalo Theko, for which she won the Best Actress Anand Lok Puraskar award in Kolkata.

Hanste Khelte and Ektaa Kapoor’s Hum Paanch.

In the meantime, she acted in Bengali movie Bhalo Theko with actor Joy Sengupta. She even won the ‘best actress’ Anand Lok Puraskar in Kolkata for her performance in the movie.

It was in Mumbai, during a pop concert, when filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra approached her to play the female lead in his movie Parineeta, to be directed by Pradeep Sarkar.

Vidya had to go through 40 screen tests and 17 make-up shoots before she was finally chosen for the lead role in the film.

Vidya has a very traditional Indian look in contrast to most of today’s Bollywood starlets. She is associated with AmFar (Americans for AIDS Research) and Hale House, a home for children born with HIV and those affected by Drug Addiction. She also involves herself with the Harvard AIDS Institute, by Hosting Forums and participating in events throughout the year. No wonder that Vidya Balan is one of the most talked about names in Bollywood today.

Movies Done By Vidya Balan

2003 Bhalo Theko Anandi Bengali film
2005 Parineeta Lalita Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2006 Lage Raho Munna Bhai Jhanvi
2007 Guru Meenakshi “Meenu” Gupta-Saxena
2007 Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love Tehzeeb Hussain
2007 Eklavya: The Royal Guard Rajjo
2007 Heyy Babyy Isha Sahni
2007 Bhool Bhulaiyaa Avni Chaturvedi / Manjulika Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2007 Om Shanti Om Herself Cameo appearance in song “Deewangi Deewangi”
2008 Halla Bol Sneha
2008 Kismat Konnection Priya
2009 Paa Vidya Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2010 Ishqiya Krishna Verma Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2011 No One Killed Jessica Sabrina Lal Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2011 Urumi Makkom / Bhoomi Malayalam film; guest appearance
2011 Thank You Divya Special appearance
2011 Dum Maaro Dum Mrs. Kamath Special appearance
2011 The Dirty Picture Reshma (Silk) National Film Award for Best Actress Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2012 Kahaani Vidya Venkatesan Bagchi Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2012 Ferrari Ki Sawaari Unknown Special appearance in song “Mala Jau De”
2013 Bombay Talkies Herself Cameo appearance in song “Apna Bombay Talkies”
2013 Ghanchakkar Neetu Athray
2013 Once Upon ay Time in Mumbai Dobaara! Unknown Cameo appearance in song “Tayyab Ali”
2013 Mahabharat Draupadi (voice) Animated film
2014 Shaadi Ke Side Effects Trisha Mallik
2014 Bobby Jasoos Bilkis “Bobby” Ahmed
2015 Hamari Adhuri Kahani Vasudha Prasad
2016 Te3n Sarita Sarkar Guest appearance
2016 Ekk Albela Geeta Bali Marathi film; special appearance
2016 Kahaani 2: Durga Rani Singh Vidya Sinha / Durga Rani Singh Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2017 Begum Jaan Begum Jaan
2017 Tumhari Sulu Sulochana “Sulu” Dubey Filmfare Award for Best ActressNominated—Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress
2018 Amoli Narrator (English version) Documentary
2019 N.T.R: Kathanayakudu Basavatarakam Telugu film
2019 N.T.R: Mahanayakudu Basavatarakam Telugu film
2019 Nerkonda Paarvai Kalyani Bharath Tamil film; guest appearance
2019 Mission Mangal Tara Shinde Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actress
2020 Natkhat Sonu’s mother Short film; also producer
2020 Shakuntala Devi Shakuntala Devi
TBA Sherni Film has yet to be released TBA Filming

Television series Done By Vidya Balan

1995 Hum Paanch Radhika Mathur Zee TV
2014 No More Kamzor Host Star Plus TV special

Music video appearances Done By Vidya Balan

2002 “Aana Meri Gully” Bengali bride Euphoria
2002 “Main Nashe Mein Hoon” Bengali girl Pankaj Udhas
2003 “Kisson Ki Chadar” Unknown Shubha Mudgal
2011 “Jaani Na” Bengali wife Chandrabindoo