Freida Pinto

Freida Pinto 
(born 18 October 1984) is an Indian actress and model best known for her portrayal of Latika in the 2008 Academy Award winning film Slumdog Millionaire, for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. In 2010, she starred in the films You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger and as the title character in Miral.

Freida Pinto was born on 18 October 1984 to a Mangalorean Catholic family in Mumbai. 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. When Freida was ten, Indian model Sushmita Sen won Miss Universe 1994, which turned out to be a defining point in Freida's life.

She 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.

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. 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 in Slumdog Millionaire playing 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,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. Pinto is due to appear in the 2011 science fiction film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a reboot of the Planet of the Apes series, 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.