Born:
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, September 21, 1980
Years active:
2000 - present
Spouse(s):
None

Kareena Kapoor, nicknamed "Bebo" is a four-time Filmfare Award-winning Indian popular actress who appears in Bollywood movies. Since her debut in the 2000 film, Refugee, she has acted in nearly 30 films, majority of them bringing her critical success rather than commercial success. Despite this fact, she has emerged today as one of the top and most versatile actresses from the industry. As of 2007, her total box office impact is worth well over Rs. 4 billion.

Career

Early life, until 2000
Kareena attended Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai and then went to Welham Girls Boarding School in Dehradun. She then went to Harvard for summer school and took a course in microcomputers and information technology for three months. Set on pursuing an acting career, she then took an admission in Government Law College at Churchgate to become a lawyer. After completing one year there, she went back to her initial plan of joining the film industry, where she attended the Kishore Namit Kapoor acting school.

Kareena had planned to debut in Rakesh Roshan's Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai but left the project a few days into the filming. She made her debut in J.P. Dutta’s Refugee in 2000 with Abhishek Bachchan and won critical acclaim for portraying the role of a Pakistani girl. The role earned her an award for Filmfare Best Debut (Female).

Breakthrough, 2001-2003
In 2001, films like Ajnabee and Asoka followed for her which did indifferent business at the box office. Her breakthrough performance of a princess in the latter was acclaimed and earned her a Filmfare nomination for Best Actress. However, the success of her films Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham established her as one of the industry's most bankable stars and put her on Bollywood's A-list.

Kapoor was in great demand after these successes and signed many new movies, but most of her films failed to do well at the box office. Even much-hyped films like Mujhse Dosti Karoge! (2002) and Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon (2003) that came from big banners like Yash Raj Films and Rajshri Productions failed to do well. Many critics criticized her for doing the same kind of roles in her films but strangely, big banners were still keen to sign her.

Turning Point, 2004-present
However 2004 turned out to be a turning point in her career in terms of qualitative performance. The critical success of the 2004 film Chameli, where she played the role of a prostitute made critics take notice of her once again and earned her the Filmfare Special Performance Award. She gained critical acclaim for her de-glamorized role in the critically acclaimed film Dev, for which she won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance. Her other films in 2004 included the moderately successful Aitraaz and the semi-hit Hulchul.

36 China Town was Kareena's first release in 2006 followed by Chup Chup Ke. Both films managed to do moderately well at the box office. Her performance as Desdemona in the Indian adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello, Omkara was praised from audiences as well as the critics, earning her a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance and a Star Screen Award for Best Actress. Her performance in the film also landed her various nominations in the best actress category including the Filmfare Awards. Her next release, Don - The Chase Begins Again released in October 2006 and became one of the biggest hits of 2006. She won favorable reviews both for her acting and her dancing in her item number.

After shooting for her film, Don, Kareena decided to take a long break from Bollywood. Although she did sign a few new projects during her break, she did not shoot for any of them. In March 2007, she resumed shooting for the film Kya Love Story Hai, in which she only appeared in an item number. The film which released in April 2007 won favorable reviews for her dancing again.

Personal life

Family
Born into an old and influential film family in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, Kareena's name was inspired by the book, Anna Karenina. Her grandfather was Raj Kapoor; her great grandfather was Prithviraj Kapoor. She is the daughter of Randhir Kapoor and Babita, who had divorced when she was still young. Rishi Kapoor is one of her uncles. Her sister, Karisma Kapoor, is also an actress. Other living relatives include maternal aunt Sadhana, and cousins Ranbir Kapoor and Nikhil Nanda.

Relationships
Kareena is currently dating actor Shahid Kapoor, the son of veteran actor Pankaj Kapoor.

Gossip columnists have linked her to a number of her co-stars, but she has strongly denied all these rumors.

Controversies
In 2005, Kareena was in the news when onlookers with mobile phone cameras filmed her kissing her boyfriend Shahid Kapoor and released it to the news.

Commitments

Campaigns
She starred in a video with Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, and John Abraham as a kick start for the BLUE BILLION campaign that invited cricket fans all over the world to cheer for India.

Along with actress Celina Jaitley, Kareena was roped in by Congress candidate, Mohammed Sheikh Shamim on a campaign trail for the UP Assembly elections in the temple town of Varanasi.

In 2007, She co-hosted the 52nd Filmfare Awards ceremony, along with Shahrukh Khan, Karan Johar and Juhi Chawla.

Contributions
In February 2005, along with other Bollywood stars, Kareena performed at the HELP! Telethon Concert to help raise money for the victims of Tsunami.

In March 2005, Kareena visited the desert heartland of Rajasthan to boost the morales of the jawans. It was for a special Holy weekend episode on the Jai Jawan show, where entertainers and stars visit Indian troops in far-flung regions to encourage them along with the NDTV team.

She also performed at the "Marco Ricci Each One Reach One Benefit Concert", a fundraiser for the World Youth Peace Summit.

Kareena donated her prize money, her half-share of 50 lakh rupees from her 2007 appearance on the season finale of Kaun Banega Crorepati with Priyanka Chopra, to St. Anthony's Old Age Home and Mount Mary's Bandra in support of its welfare activities.

Representation
Kareena was invited to Pakistan's Kara Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival to promote her film, Omkara as a Bollywood entry. Due to her being busy with the Rockstars world tour, she opted not to go to the latter.

She was the brand ambassador of products like Pepsi, ICI Paints, Citizen Watches, Laboratories Garnier’s Nutrisse Brand, and Lux.

Stage Shows
Kareena set on her first world tour in 2002. The Heartthrobs Concert, which had her perform alongside stars like Hrithik Roshan, Karisma Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, and Aftab Shivdasani turned out to be a huge international success.

Her latest tour, the Rockstars Concert of May 2006, in which she performed alongside Salman Khan, Zayed Khan, John Abraham, Shahid Kapoor, Esha Deol and Mallika Sherawat turned out to be a huge success overseas.

In the media

Despite not having that many hits to her credit, Kareena remains to be one of the top and most sought-after actresses. Majority of her films have done better at the overseas box office (the U.K., Canada, and the U.S.) than they did in the Indian domestic market.

Kapoor was the only actress that featured among the highest tax payers of 2006-07. Kareena was also ranked fourth on the list of Filmfare's "Top Actresses" list (2003-2005) and sixth later on (2006).

In 2004, along with actresses like Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai, Kareena was featured in the list of Rediff's "Bollywood's Most Beautiful Actresses." She was also featured in the list of Rediff's "Bollywood's Hottest Heroines"and Rediff's "Bollywood's Best Dressed Women." In 2007, Kapoor was listed #4 on the list of Indiatimes' "Top 10 Hottest Actresses of Bollywood."

In 2005, Kareena appeared in the second episode of the first season of Karan Johar's talk show Koffee with Karan with Rani Mukerji. She later appeared on the second season of the show with her sister Karisma Kapoor and her boyfriend Shahid Kapoor in 2007. She also appeared as a guest judge alongside actress Priyanka Chopra on Indian Idol 2.

For the 2006 finale of Manish Malhotra's fashion display, Fashion Week 2006, Kareena modeled and walked the ramp with her boyfriend Shahid Kapoor and actress Urmila Matondkar.