From pageant queen to Hollywood star: A look at Priyanka Chopra’s journey to global fame

Priyanka Chopra  be celebrating her 41st birthday on Tuesday. From winning the title of Miss World at the age of 18 to  becoming a star at the global level, Priyanka has had quite a journey. On the personal front, the actress is married to Nick Jonas and shares a daughter with him named Malti Marie. Even embracing motherhood hasn’t stopped Priyanka from advancing her career. The Barfi star has ventured into business with the launch of her own production house Purple Pebble Pictures, a haircare brand called Anomaly and an Indian restaurant in New York named Sona. On the occasion of her birthday, we take a look at her journey from a beauty pageant winner to an A-lister. 

The big break 

In 1982, a middle-class couple who were both doctors in the Indian Army gave birth to a girl in Jamshedpur's Tata Main Hospital, who they named Priyanka Chopra. Growing up dreaming of becoming an aeronautical engineer, it was a nudge from her mom that really kickstarted her career in the entertainment industry.

Priyanka began her professional life as a contestant in beauty pageants. She competed in and won the Miss India beauty contest, only to go on and win the renowned Miss World beauty contest, all at the age of 18. This was the moment that gave her widespread attention and a big break in her career. 

Rise in Bollywood 

Priyanka was given the role of the female lead in Abbas-Mustan's romantic thriller Humraaz. However, she was later replaced due to a schedule conflict, making the 2002 Tamil film Thamizhan her first acting project. The actress finally got to make her Bollywood debut in 2003 opposite Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta in The Hero: Love Story of a Spy. 

From there, there was no looking back for the Desi Girl. The actress went on to star in various genres of film portraying characters that others would seldom take interest in. One of them is Soniya Roy in Aitraaz. Priyanka played a gold-digging, scheming seductress, the quintessential femme fatale in the 2004 movie, which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role that year. 

The setbacks came in the latter half of the 2000s when Priyanka’s films failed to perform at the box office. It all came to a stop when Priyanka starred in Madhur Bhandarkar's Fashion, a drama about the Indian fashion business that followed the lives and careers of various fashion models. She portrayed the role of Meghna Mathur, a driven supermodel in the movie. Priyanka won praise for both the movie and her performance, which proved to be a significant turning point in her career. 

Other prominent roles in Priyanka’s career include Jhilmil Chatterjee in Anurag Basu’s Barfi! She played an autistic woman who falls in love with a deaf, mute man (Ranbir Kapoor). It was considered a very difficult role to dive into given how demanding it is for an actor to convincingly portray a woman with autism. She also drew praise for her portrayal of five-time world boxing champion and Olympic bronze medalist Mary Kom, in her biopic of the same name. Kashibai in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's epic historical romantic drama Bajirao Mastani was another one of her memorable performances. 

Breakthrough in Hollywood 

Priyanka signed the talent holding deal with ABC Studios in 2014 and was cast as Alex Parrish in Quantico. The show premiered on ABC in 2015, making her the first South Asian to headline an American network drama series. She later went on to star in various Hollywood projects like Baywatch, A Kid Like Jake, Isn't It Romantic, The White Tiger and most recently Citadel. 

Venture into singing and business projects 

Priyanka was the first Bollywood actress to be signed by the Los Angeles-based entertainment and sports firm Creative Artists firm in July 2012. Later the same year she released her debut single In My City. After releasing a couple of singles the actress decided not to pursue this career as "it was not living up to her standards."

Along with being an artist, Priyanka is also a successful businesswoman. The actress set up her production company Purple Pebble Pictures in 2015 and since then has produced regional films like Ventilator, Pahuna: The Little Visitors, Paani and more. Priyanka made her debut in business by establishing her own haircare line, Anomaly, and opening Sona, an Indian eatery. She is also the author of her memoir, Unfinished, which released in 2021.

Therefore, Priyanka is not merely a stereotyped Indian actress. She is an accomplished actress and businesswoman who is now successfully altering how the world views "brown girls." With her devotion, her persistence in keeping involved, and her unrelenting ambition to learn and grow, Priyanka Chopra sets an example for all women.