Lara Dutta Bhupathi (born 16 April 1978) is an Indian Bollywood actress and former Miss Universe (2000).[1]
She made her Hindi debut in 2003 with the film Andaaz which was a box office success and won her a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. Her box office hit successes include a series of comedies Masti (2004), No Entry (2005), Bhagam Bhag (2006), Partner (2007) and Housefull (2010). Her recent film Don 2 (2011) is a major commercial success in the domestic and international markets.
Early life
Dutta was born in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh to an Indian father and an Anglo-Indian mother.[1] Her father is Wing Commander L.K. Dutta (retired) and her mother is Jennifer Dutta. She also has two elder sisters, Sabrina, who serves in the Indian Air Force and a well known younger sister Cheryl. Composer and DJ Nitin Sawhney is Dutta's cousin.[2] The Dutta family moved to Bangalore in 1981 where she completed high school from St.Francis Xavier Girls' High School and the Frank Anthony Public School. Dutta graduated in economics with a minor in communications from the University of Mumbai. She is fluent in English, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, and French.[citation needed]
[edit]Pageantry
Dutta won the annual Gladrags Megamodel competition in her native India in 1995,[3][4] thus winning the right to enter the 1997 Miss Intercontinental Pageant, in which she took first place.[5] Later, she was crowned Femina Miss India Universe in 2000.[6]
At Miss Universe 2000 in Cyprus, she achieved the highest score in the swimsuit competition and her finalist interview score was the highest individual score in any category in the history of the Miss Universe contest, as her interview saw a majority of the judges giving her the maximum 9.99 mark.[7] After her final question, in which she delivered a defense of the Miss Universe contest (and other beauty pageants), she became the second Indian Miss Universe. Dutta's win led to her appointment as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador in 2001.[8]
In the same year, Priyanka Chopra and Dia Mirza won their respective Miss World and Miss Asia Pacific titles which gave India a rare triple victory in the world of beauty pageants.
