Priyanka Chopra, now known as Priyanka Chopra Jonas (after marrying American singer, Nick Jonas) is a former Miss World beauty queen. After winning her crown in 2000 at the age of 18, what else has she done?

Chopra became an actress with starring roles both in India and the United States. She is also a commercial model, businesswoman, author, and philanthropist.

Family Background and Education

Priyanka’s parents—Ashok and Madhu Chopra were medical doctors who served in the armed forces and would be posted in different places in India like Ambala, Bareilly, and Pune. She has a younger brother, Siddarth, who is seven years her junior. 

The actress attended La Martiniere Girls’ School in Lucknow and St. Maria Goretti College in Bareilly, and didn’t mind going around her country to discover more about it. At 13 years old, she moved to the United States to study, staying with her aunt.

Attending schools in Massachusetts, Newton, Iowa, and New York, she was reported to have experienced racial discrimination for being South Asian. After three years, she returned to India after finishing high school at the Bareilly Army Public School. 

Becoming Miss World

Young Priyanka returned home in 1998 and was preparing to take aerospace engineering but her mother entered her in the Femina Miss India pageant in which she won second place and got the chance to represent her country in Miss World 2000.

She flew to London for the pageant and won the crown and another title—Miss World Continental Queen of Beauty—Asia & Oceania, making her a global celebrity. 

After winning the title, she immediately got a lot of opportunities and movie offers, putting her college education on hold.

Actress

Over the years, Priyanka has established herself as an A-lister in Hollywood, starring in several films like The Matrix Resurrections with Keanu Reeves, Baywatch with Dwayne Johnson, and Isn’t It Romantic with Rebel Wilson. Her breakthrough lead role was in television as Alex Parrish in ABC’s Quantico, which ran from 2015 to 2018. She was also the first South Asian to win a People’s Choice award twice.

Before winning over the west, she was a leading lady in several Bollywood films. As written on Empire, the former beauty queen made her acting debut in 2002 in a Tamil film called Thamizhan and appeared for the first time in Bollywood with The Hero: Love Story of a Spy. 

She received critical acclaim from Andaaz in 2004 by winning her first Filmfare Best Female Debut Award and became the second woman to win the Filmfare Best Villain Award for her role in Aitraaz opposite Akshay Kumar in 2005. 

Other notable wins are the 2015 MTV Music Awards for Best Indian Act, 2009’s Golden Goblet Award for Contribution to Cinema at the Shanghai International Film Festival, and more!

Brand Endorser

Not only is the stunning actress an accomplished actress, but also a commercial model for brands like Pepsi, TAG Heuer, Colgate, and Ponds. In 2022 she became Bvlgari’s new brand ambassador and starred in their short film Unexpected Wonders as part of their 2022 brand campaign featuring the new Eden: The Garden of Wonders High Jewelry collection.

Business Woman

In 2021, the superstar added restauranteur to her resume when she opened an Indian Restaurant in New York called Sona and created a homeware line in 2022 inspired by it. The actress sat down with Vogue and shared that she and her business partner Maneesh Goyal showed an elegant representation of India in American culture, coming up with a 45-piece tableware collection from bar accessories to dinner settings.

“We both love hosting. It’s a very Indian thing. Our tables only get larger with more people,” said Chopra. “Growing up, we were always around cousins, family, and friends in a cacophony of laughter and food.” 

Tech Investor

According to the New York Times, the Bulgari cover girl invested in Holberton School in 2018. The school uses projects and group learning to teach software development, cultivate the student’s soft skills to help them with interviews, and has a curriculum designed for practical experience.

The institution also allows students to learn tuition-free until they find employment after graduation.

Philanthropy

In 2011, she founded the Priyanka Chopra Foundation for Health and Education for children to have access to those services. Then in 2015 formed Purple Pebble Pictures, a production house in Mumbai to support new talent in India, producing films in regional languages like Punjabi and Marathi.

She then became United Nations Goodwill Ambassador in 2016 and is involved to protect children’s rights and the education of girls in India and a Girl Up Champion. In the same year, she was given one of India’s highest civilian honors, the Padma Shri.

Chopra is the pinnacle of beauty and brains—having had such a successful career since her Miss World win, she continues to dazzle the world with her goodwill, charm, and grace and has become a loving wife and mother.

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