DEEPIKA PADUKONE - Maxim Cover Girl August

Deepika Padukone, born 5 January 1986 in Copenhagen, Denmark, is an Indian model & Actress. She is the daughter of former badminton Champion Prakash Padukone. Her mother tongue is Tulu.

She has been modeling appearances in print and television advertising campaigns for Liril, Close-Up toothpaste and Limca, receiving many prestigious modeling offers, including brand ambassadorship of the Jewels of India, an annual jewelery exhibition. She hit the international scene when Maybelline made her their new international cover-girl face.

At the fifth annual Kingfisher Fashion Awards, for Indian models and designers, she was awarded the title of Model of the Year. Shortly after wards, she was chosen as one of the models for the Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar for 2006, thus cementing her reputation as a supermodel. She also bagged two trophies at the Idea Zee F Awards in 2006 - female Model of the year (Commercial Assignments) and Fresh Face of the year.
Deepika Padukone has a younger sister named Anisha.

Career

Modeling

While pursuing her studies in college, Deepika Padukone decided to pursue a career in modeling due to her tall and slender figure. Over the years, she has modeled for famous Indian brand names such as Liril, Dabur Lal powder, Close-Up toothpaste and Limca. She received many prestigious modeling offers, which included becoming the brand ambassadorship of the Jewels of India. Padukone hit the international scene when Maybelline made her their new international spokesperson.

At the 5th annual Kingfisher Fashion Awards she was awarded the title Model of the Year. Shortly afterward, she was chosen as one of the models for the Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar for 2006 and won two trophies at the Idea Zee Fashion Awards: Female Model of the Year - (Commercial Assignments) and Fresh Face of the Year later that year. Padukone was also chosen as the brand ambassador of Kingfisher Airlines and most recently Levi Strauss and Tissot SA.

Acting

After pursuing a successful career in modeling, Deepika Padukone branched out into acting. She started by starring in the music video for the song Naam Hai Tera from the independent pop album Aap Kaa Surroor by Himesh Reshammiya.

In 2006, Deepika Padukone made her cinematic debut in the Kannada film, Aishwarya staring opposite actor Upendra. She later made a successful Bollywood debut in 2007 with Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om opposite Shahrukh Khan.

The film went on to become the biggest hit of the year, both in India and abroad. The film featured her portraying Shantipriya - a 1970s superstar, and later as Sandy - a young woman who looks exactly like Shantipriya. Her performance was well received, earning the actress a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award as well as her first Filmfare Best Actress nomination. Taran Adarsh from indiaFM noted, "Deepika Padukone has all it takes to be a top star -- the personality, the looks and yes, she's supremely talented too. Standing in the same frame as SRK and getting it right is no small achievement. She comes as a whiff of fresh air!"

Deepika Padukone's most recent film is Siddharth Anand's Bachna Ae Haseeno, which released on August 15, 2008. As of August 2008, Padukone is curently working on Nikhil Advani's Chandni Chowk To China opposite Akshay Kumar.