Zarine Khan

Date of Birth

14 May 1988

Height

5ft 7 in(174 cm)

Early life:

Khan was born to a Pashtun family in Mumbai on 14 May 1988. She speaks fluent Hindi and Marathi. In college she weighed almost 100 kg (220 lb). Although she never planned to be a model, she began to focus on losing weight and getting into shape. In order to lose weight, she began to work out, eventually reaching her target weight. Her family's financial troubles forced Khan to abandon her education and begin working. With no marketable skills, she tried her hand at modeling. Khan did a number of small assignments that fetched her enough money to run her family.

Acting career:

Khan's acting career began while visiting the set of Yuvraaj at Subhash Ghai's film school Whistling Woods. Salman Khan noticed her and decided to cast her for his film Veer because, he said, "She looks the character - the sweet princess she is playing in Veer". After a screen test, Khan was given the role of Princess Yashodhara. She gained eight kilograms in order to be more convincing as a 19th century princess. Because of Veer's poor box office performance, Khan at first had trouble finding roles in big-budget films. In 2011, she made a cameo appearance in Anees Bazmee's Ready, parodying characters from Mughal-e-Azam, Sholay and Shri 420. Her upcoming films include Housefull 2 and Partner 2.

AWARDS:

• Nominated: Stardust Award for Superstar Of Tommorow - Female (2011)
  Movie: Veer

• Nominated: The Global Indian Film And Television Honors for Most Promising Fresh Face - Female (2011)
  Movie: Veer