Shilpa Shetty, who shares her birthday with Dimple Kapadia, was born on June 8th, 1975. Shilpa was the oldest daughter of Surendra and Sunanada Shetty, who were both models in their young age. Shilpa has a younger sister Shamita Shetty, and both of them studied in St. Anthony’s Girls High School in Chembur, Mumbai, which was at a stone throw away distance from their home. In school, Shilpa was very actively involved in sports and served as the sports captain. After appearing for her 10th grade exams, Shilpa decided to pursue a career in modeling.

Shilpa was a bright student and studied at Podar College in Mumbai, but destiny had other plans as her modeling career took off as Shilpa did a commercial for ‘Limca’, which got her a movie ‘Gaata Rahe Mera Dil’ opposite Rahul Roy. The movie got shelved, but Shilpa did not loose hope and went on to sign ‘Baazigar’ opposite the superstars Shahrukh Khan and Kajol. ‘Baazigar’ became a superhit and Shilpa won the Best debutante Award in 1994 for her performance in the movie. Shilpa also made news for her nose surgeries as the actress went under the knife a couple of times to get a perfect nose. 

The long legged Shilpa is 5’10” and her height has became her biggest drawback, but she got lucky when she bagged a role opposite Akshay Kumar in ‘Main Khiladi Tu Anari’; the duo made a superhit pair and their song “Chura Ke dil Mera” became a rage. Shilpa also started the trend of wearing animal prints from that movie.

For six years in a row, her movies flopped at the box-office and she was written off by the Bollywood pundits, but she rebound back with an item number in ‘Shool’ titled “UP, Bihar lootne”. Shilpa also bagged the biggest role of her life in ‘Dhadkan’ for which the actress underwent a complete makeover and looked completely gorgeous. ‘Dhadkan’ was Shilpa’s ticket to the big banner movies and she also won an IIFA best actress award for the movie. It was during the making of ‘Dhadkan’ that Shilpa started dating Akshay Kumar, but the relationship didn’t last for long.

Shilpa also dared to play the unconventional role of an AIDS patient in ‘Phir Milenge’, a performance, which won her accolades and many awards. Shilpa also acted in Anubhav Sinha’s ‘Dus’ and performed her own stunts in the movie especially, the high kicks. Shilpa has also signed ‘Metro’ opposite Shiny Ahuja and Kay Kay Menon and is working with the Deols in a movie titled ‘Apne’.

Shilpa is regarded as having one of the best bodies in Bollywood and has been a benchmark for many aspiring actresses. Shilpa was recently linked with director Anubhav Sinha, the actress however, denied the relationship.

Shilpa is the brand ambassadress for ‘Romanov Vodka’ and is judging reality TV show ‘Jhalak Dhiklaja’. Shilpa is known to be socially involved with ‘PETA-People of Ethical Treatment for Animals’ and is also an active AIDS activist. Shilpa shares stong ties with her parents and continues to live with them.