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Freida Pinto (born 18 October 1984) is an Indian actress and professional  model best known for her portrayal of Latika in the 2009 Academy Award winning film Slumdog Millionaire. Pinto also won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Early life

Freida Pinto was born on 18 October 1984 in Mumbai to a wealthy Mangalorean Catholic  family. Her mother, Sylvia, is a principal of St John’s Universal High School (Goregaon), and her father, Frederick, is a senior branch manager at the Bank of Baroda. Her older sister Sharon is an associate producer for the NDTV news channel. Pinto dreamed of becoming an actress, since she was five years old. At the age of ten, she was influenced by Indian actress and model Sushmita Sen winning Miss Universe 1994, which turned out to be a defining point in her life. Pinto studied at Carmel of St. Joseph School in Malad, Mumbai and completed her Bachelor of Arts (BA) with a major in English Literature, and minors in Psychology and Economics, from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. She also acted in plays and amateur theater while attending St. Xavier’s. She later joined Elite Model Management and modeled for two and a half years.

Acting career

Before starring in Slumdog Millionaire, Pinto anchored the international travel show, Full Circle, on Zee International Asia Pacific in English between 2006-08. Pinto was also featured in several television and print advertisements for products such as Wrigley’s Chewing Gum, Škoda, Vodafone India, Airtel, and DeBeers. Pinto modeled for four years and appeared in runway shows and magazine covers.[4]  She learned acting from The Barry John’s Acting Studio in Andheri and was trained by theatre director Barry John.  After six months of auditions, she received a call to audition for Slumdog Millionaire. Pinto auditioned for Danny Boyle and was short-listed and finally selected to star in Slumdog Millionaire.

Pinto made her feature film debut in 2008. Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of a young man from the slums of Mumbai who appears on a game show and exceeds people’s expectations, arousing the suspicions of the game show host and of law enforcement officials. In the film, Pinto played the role of Latika, the girl with whom Jamal (Dev Patel) is in love. At the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, the movie won the Cadillac People’s Choice Award. At the 2009 Golden Globe Awards, the movie won four awards. Pinto herself was nominated for “Best Actress in a Supporting Role” at the 2009 BAFTA Awards, However she won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture alongside other cast members from Slumdog Millionaire.

Pinto co-starred in Woody Allen’s comedy-drama film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, with Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Anupam Kher and Naomi Watts, which premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.. She has also starred in Miral, a Franco-Israeli film directed by Julian Schnabel, with movie itself getting mixed reviews, but her lack of acting skills being severely criticized by most of the critics, with rumors that the expected unflattering reviews were the reason for her not attending the premiere of her movie. Pinto is due to appear in the 2011 science fiction film Rise of the Apes, the prequel to the Planet of the Apes (2001), opposite James Franco. She will portray the role of Caroline, a primatologist, who studies primates in the film. She will also appear in the 2011 fantasy-action-drama film, Immortals, in which she will play the role of the oracle priestess Phaedra.

Other work

Pinto has joined hands with Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf to support their philanthropic organisation “Agassi Foundation”. She is the only Indian actress to have been roped in by the tennis couple to participate in their annual fund raiser titled, “The 15th Grand Slam for Children”, that aims at raising funds for education of underprivileged children.

Popular reception

Pinto is featured in People magazine’s “Most Beautiful People List”,  and “List of World’s Best Dressed Women”.  She was also featured in the “Top 99 Most Desirable Women” poll conducted by Askmen.com in 2010.  According to The Daily Telegraph, she is currently the highest paid actress in Bollywood.  She has also been listed in the top ten list of the fashion magazine Vogue’s 2009 annual list of the most stylish women.  On 13 May 2009, Pinto became a new spokesmodel for L’Oréal.

Personal life

Pinto was engaged to her former publicist and boyfriend of five years, Rohan Antao, but she called off the engagement in early 2009 after her film won the Oscar, citing career reasons. She is also trained in different forms of Indian classical dance as well as Salsa. She currently resides in the Orlem locality of the Malad suburb of Mumbai.

Filmography

Slumdog Millionaire
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Miral
Rise of the Apes
Immortals