One of the most popular global celebrities at the moment is Priyanka Chopra. In fact, she is my mother's favorite, which is why she is our topic for today. How did Priyanka Chopra become a successful actress and producer in Hollywood? She is an A-lister.
Priyanka was born in Jamshedpur, Bihar, to parents who were both physicians in the Indian Army. In other words, she comes from a wealthy and well-connected family, and some of her family members already have careers in Bollywood. Because her father was a military physician, she was used to traveling to different parts of India while growing up, which widened her perspective on life. As we know, Indians are really creative, and growing up, she saw various perspectives that prepared her immensely for entering Hollywood.
She was used to changing schools, but she did not mind it. In fact, she enjoyed it, and they did not live in a house but instead in barracks near the desert. Her life was often spent camping. However, at 13 years old, they finally moved to the United States because she needed to study, and she lived with her aunt. While she was in the U.S., she joined theater productions. Many successful actors in Hollywood first started out in the theater, like Vin Diesel and Hugh Jackman. So it was the same for Priyanka. However, it wasn't easy to be accepted by her classmates in the U.S. She was often bullied and experienced discrimination. Additionally, they were not super wealthy, so the bullying and insults were her motivation to work hard. It was then she realized she had to be the best.
This led her to join beauty pageants to get rid of her insecurity issues. When she won for the first time, her confidence was boosted, and she started to have admirers. She eventually won the Miss World Pageant in 2000 and another title as Miss World Continental Queen of Beauty in Asia and Oceania in London, which really widened her connections. Many people wonder what the point of beauty pageants is. In truth, this is where you find the right business people to connect with on a global level. Whether you win or lose, the networks that you get in these pageants can change your life forever, and this is what happened to Priyanka.
Seeing that she was really eyeing the top, she did not stop at beauty pageants. She made her film debut in 2002, but critics did not like her. It was in her second film, "The Hero: Love story of a spy," that she got noticed because it became one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films of that year. She continued taking roles here and there until she earned her first Best Supporting Actress in India. However, her career was not really shining there. Many say her roles were predictable, but she did not give up until she landed her second-highest-grossing film. In 2008, she was finally getting roles that featured her as a lead. But her career in Bollywood was not really improving. That's why in 2009, she reinvented herself and took on more roles that featured her as a strong female until she finally took a chance in Hollywood in 2015. She grew as an actress and started to be taken seriously until she was able to get a deal with ABC studios to enter an American thriller series, "Quantico," making her the first South Asian to headline an American network drama series. People loved it, and this led her to receive more roles in Los Angeles. She also won the first People's Choice Award as a South Asian actress. She landed a mainstream role in "Baywatch" together with Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.
She owns her own production company. She is now worth 70 million USD.