Priyanka Chopra

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Priyanka Chopra

     Priyanka Chopra was born on 18 July 1982 in Jamshedpur, Bihar (now in Jharkhand), to Ashok and Madhu Chopra, both physicians in the Indian Army. Her father was a Punjabi, while her mother is from Jharkhand. She has a brother, Siddharth, who is seven years her junior. Actress Parineeti Chopra, Meera Chopra and Mannara are her cousins. Due to her parents' occupations the family relocated to a number of places in India, including Delhi,

Chandigarh, Ambala, Ladakh, Lucknow, Bareilly, and Pune. Among the schools she attended were La Martiniere Girls' School in Lucknow and St. Maria Goretti College in Bareilly. In an interview published in Daily News and Analysis, Chopra said that she did not mind travelling regularly and changing schools; she welcomed it as a new experience and a way to discover India's multicultural society. Among the many places that she lived, Chopra has fond memories as a child of playing in the valleys of Leh, in the cold northwestern Indian desert region of Jammu and Kashmir. She has said, "I think I was in Class 4 when I was in Leh. My brother was just born. My dad was in the army and was posted there. I stayed in Leh for a year and my memories of that place are tremendous ... We were all army kids there. We weren't living in houses, we were in bunkers in the valley and there was a stupa right on top of a hill which used to overlook our valley. We used to race up to the top of the stupa". She now considers Bareilly her home town, and maintains strong connections there.

     At the age of thirteen, Chopra moved to the United States to study, living with her aunt, and attending schools in Newton, Massachusetts, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, after a stop in Queens, New York, as her aunt's family also moved frequently. While in Massachusetts, she participated in several theatre productions and studied Western classical music, choral singing and Kathak dance. Chopra was the only Indian in her class to have been selected at the state level for the National Opus Honour Choir. However, by sophomore year, she was keen on becoming a software engineer or a criminal psychologist, rather than a performer. During her teenage years in America, Chopra sometimes faced racial issues and was bullied for being Indian. She has said, "I was a gawky kid, had low self-esteem, came from a modest middle-class background, had white marks on my legs ... But I was damn hard working. Today, my legs sell 12 brands."

     After three years, Chopra returned to India, finishing the senior year of her high-school education at the Army Public School in Bareilly. During this period, she won the local "May Queen" beauty pageant, after which she was pursued by admirers, leading her family to equip their home with bars for her protection. Her mother then entered her in the Femina Miss India contest of 2000; she finished second, winning the Femina Miss India World title.

Chopra then went on to the Miss World pageant, where she was crowned Miss World 2000 and Miss World Continental Queen of Beauty—Asia & Oceania at the Millennium Dome in London on 30 November 2000. Chopra was the fifth Indian contestant to win Miss World, and the fourth to do so in seven years. She had enrolled in college, but left after winning the Miss World pageant. Chopra said that the Miss India and Miss World titles brought her recognition, and she then began receiving offers for film roles.

     Chopra has maintained a strong relationship with her family, including her younger brother, Siddharth, and lives in an apartment on the same floor as her family. She was especially close to her father, who died in June 2013; in 2012 she got a tattoo reading "Daddy's lil girl", in his handwriting. Having not come from a film background, she describes herself as a self-made woman. Her mother, a well-established gynaecologist in Bareilly, gave up her practice to support Chopra as she embarked upon a film career.

Music career:

     Chopra's main vocal influence was her father, who she said was "an incredible singer", and helped develop her interest in singing. She used her vocal talent early in her pageantry career. Her first recording, the song "Ullathai Killathe" in the Tamil film Thamizhan (2002), was made at the urging of her director and co-star, Vijay (who had noticed her singing on the set). She declined to sing playback for "Tinka Tinka" in her film Karam (2005), preferring to concentrate on her acting career, but later sang the song live on the television programme Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. Chopra recorded an unreleased song for Bluffmaster! (2005). In August 2011, Universal Music Group signed Chopra to a worldwide recording agreement with DesiHits. The deal indicated that her first studio album would be released by Interscope Records in North America and by Island Records elsewhere. Her first song as a playback singer in Bollywood was "Chaoro" from Mary Kom (2014).

     In July 2012, Chopra became the first Bollywood star signed by Creative Artists Agency, an entertainment and sports agency based in Los Angeles. Travelling to the United States to work on her album, Chopra collaborated with Sam Watters, Matthew Koma and Jay Sean. The album will be produced by RedOne. Her first single, "In My City", debuted in the US on 13 September 2012 in a TV spot for the NFL Network's Thursday Night Football, 12 hours after the full song debuted in India; a shortened version of the song was used to open each show of the season. "In My City" features rapper will.i.am; according to Chopra, a co-writer, the song was inspired by her unsettled childhood and her journey from a small-town girl to a celebrity. "In My City" trended at number one on Twitter several minutes after release. The song received mixed reviews from critics, and was a commercial success in India; it sold more than 130,000 copies in its first week, topped the Hindi pop chart and was certified triple platinum. In the United States the single was unsuccessful, with 5,000 digital downloads in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan, and did not receive radio play. In October 2012, the single won her the Best International Debut award at the People's Choice Awards India. In December 2012, she received three nominations: Best Female Artist, Best Song and Best Video (for "In My City") at the World Music Awards. She also received the Trailblazer Award from the South Asian Media, Marketing and Entertainment

Association for becoming the first Bollywood actor to win a major record deal in the U.S. Chopra was also a featured artist on "Erase", an EDM song produced by the American DJ and producer duo The Chainsmokers.

     In July 2013, Chopra released her second single "Exotic" featuring American rapper Pitbull, along with its music video. "Exotic" debuted at number 16 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs and number 11 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Songs chart in 27 July 2013 issue. The single also entered at number 74 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart. "Exotic" debuted at number 44 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart and peaked at number 12. Her third single, a cover of Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" was released in April 2014. The song's accompanying video was released around the same time. The song peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. Chopra also lent her voice for a music video of John Lennon's "Imagine". The video was created as part of a global campaign by UNICEF to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and features other singers, including Katy Perry, Idris Elba, Nicole Scherzinger, The Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am and Rumer Willis.

Television and stage performances:

     In 2007, Chopra was on the judges' panel of the Miss India pageant. She stated, "Miss India will always remain special. That's where it all started for me. And maybe that's where it would've ended if I hadn't won the crown." She also performed at Miss India in 2009 and 2013, and was a judge at Miss World 2009.

In 2010, she hosted the third season of the reality show Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi on the Colors channel, taking over from previous host Akshay Kumar. According to contestants, in hosting the series, Chopra had "transformed into quite a whip-wielding dictator", relentlessly pushing the contestants to work. She performed most of her own stunts, adamant to prove that she could rival Akshay Kumar, who had hosted the previous two seasons. The opening ratings of the show topped those of the two previous seasons. The show was praised by critics, and earned the Indian Telly Award for Most Impactful Debut on Television. She visited Jawan troops in Tenga, in eastern India, for a special episode of the NDTV show Jai Jawan celebrating the 60th anniversary of India's

independence.

     Chopra has participated in a number of concerts and award ceremonies. She took part in a world concert tour, "Temptations 2004", and performed with other Bollywood actors (including Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta and Arjun Rampal) in 19 stage shows. In 2011, she participated (with Shahid Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan) in a concert in Durban, South Africa celebrating 150 years of India–South Africa friendship. In 2012, she performed at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai in the opening ceremony of the fifth season of cricket's Indian Premier League with Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan,

Kareena Kapoor and international pop star Katy Perry. Chopra also performed with other Bollywood divas in the opening ceremony for a new IPL franchise at the Sahara Stadium. In late 2012, she delivered a tribute to late filmmaker Yash Chopra at the People's Choice Awards India, and performed at Dubai Festival City's Ahlan Bollywood Concert with Salman Khan, Zarine Khan, Sophie Choudry, Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Sohail Khan.

Column writing:

     Chopra began writing an opinion column, "The Priyanka Chopra Column", for the Hindustan Times in 2009. She wrote a total of fifty columns for the newspaper. She said after her first year of writing: "I'm a private person and never thought that I could express my feelings. But strangely enough, whenever I sat down to write this column, my inner most thoughts came to the fore." In March 2009, she met several readers who had submitted feedback on her weekly column. She continued to write sporadically for newspapers. In August 2012 she wrote a column published in The Times of India titled "No woman in Mumbai feels safe any longer", discussing the murder of 25-year-old Pallavi Purkayastha, whom she met while working on Don. In the article, Chopra expressed her views about the safety of women in cities. She wrote: "The magnitude of this crime can perhaps only truly be understood by a woman. It has much larger ramifications. We can't allow this to happen. We have to, in whichever way we can, ensure that what happened with Pallavi does not happen again. We need to remind ourselves that we women today are a vital contributor to the growth of the new India."

In a July 2014 article published in The Guardian, she criticised female genital mutilation and child marriage. She wrote: "These practices violate the fundamental rights of girls and women, and hold back social and economic development that would benefit children, communities and countries. Child marriage and FGM destroy childhoods, disrupt schooling, leave girls at higher risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes, and contribute to a cycle of poverty."

     In December 2014, Chopra wrote an op-ed for The New York Times titled "What Jane Austen Knew" about the importance of education for girls. She praised and quoted Nobel Peace Prize winners Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, and described how her desire to help others was triggered when, at just nine years old, she joined her parents while they volunteered their spare time to offer modern health care to the rural poor. In late 2014, Chopra began writing a monthly column, "Pret-a-Priyanka", for "Elle.com". In an article published in January 2015, she expressed her views on diversity and being a global citizen.

Philanthropy:

     Chopra often speaks out on women's issues: against female infanticide and foeticide, and in support of education for girls. In 2006, a "day with Chopra" was auctioned on eBay; the proceeds were donated to an NGO, Nanhi Kali, which helps educate girls in India. In 2010 Chopra was one of several celebrities who created promotional messages for Pearls Wave Trust, which campaigns against violence and abuse of women and girls. Chopra also appeared at the launch of a campaign called "Save Girl Child", which aims to change the attitudes of Indians towards girls. She has worked with UNICEF since 2008, recording

public-service announcements and participating in media panel discussions promoting children's rights and the education of girls, and also participated in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. She was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Child Rights on 10 August 2010. UNICEF Representative Karin Hulshof said of the appointment:

     Priyanka Chopra ... is equally passionate about her work on behalf of children and adolescents. We are proud of the work she has done with us so far on child rights, and, we are thrilled about all what we will be doing together so that no child gets left behind.

     In 2012 Chopra spoke at the launch of Awakening Youth, an anti-addiction programme. Chopra is a supporter of environmental charities and is brand ambassador for NDTV's Greenathon, an initiative to support eco-friendliness and improve electricity supplies to rural villages. She appeared with children in an animated video to support the cause, and removed rubbish from the banks of the Yamuna river in Agra to increase awareness of environmental issues. Chopra "adopted" a tigress in 2011 and a lioness in 2012 at the Birsa biological park, paying for both animals' upkeep for a year.

     Chopra has made appearances in support of other charities, such as the 2005 HELP! Telethon Concert to raise money for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. In 2009, she shot a documentary for the organisation Alert India to increase understanding of leprosy. She modelled for designer Manish Malhotra and Shaina NC's charity fashion show to raise funds for the Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA) NGO. To promote organ donation, Chopra pledged to donate her own organs after death and was co-keynote speaker at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Bollywood-themed 20th anniversary celebration of its liver-transplant programme in 2012. In 2013 she provided voice-over in English and Hindi for the documentary film Girl Rising for the organisation of the same name.

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