Priyanka Chopra, is an Indian actress and Miss World 2000.

Priyanka was born on July 18, 1982 in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India to Ashok and Madhu Chopra née Sankaran, both doctors.She also has a brother.Her father is a Punjabi-Bengali-Marathi and her mother is a Tamil-Malayali-Kannada from Tamil Nadu. Her mother's family members were from Madurai and Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, Udupi in Karnataka and Kozhikode in Kerala.

She spent part of her childhood in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. Her family frequently moved since her father was in the Army. She studied at La Martiniere Girls' College in Lucknow, as a young girl and later came to the United States, where she was a student at Newton North High School, in Newton, Massachusetts and North Delta Senior Secondary High School in North Delta before returning to India to complete high school at Army Public School (Bareilly). She began college at Jai Hind College in Mumbai but left after winning the Miss World pageant. Priyanka's Father is also a very good singer.

Priyanka was crowned Miss India World and later Miss World in 2000. In the same year, Lara Dutta and Diya Mirza, both from India, won the Miss Universe and Miss Asia Pacific crowns, in a rare triple.When she won the Miss World crown, she became the fifth Indian woman to win the title, and the fourth Indian woman to win in a span of seven years.

After winning the Miss World title, Priyanka became an actress. She first acted in a Tamil film Thamizhan (2002) and since then has acted in many Bollywood films. She then acted in a series of flops until Mujhse Shaadi Karogi in (2004) which was her second hit. She followed it up with Aitraaz, a Hindi remake of the Demi Moore-starrer Disclosure which was yet another box office success.

In the same year, she participated in a world tour aptly titled "Temptations 2004" with Bollywood's leading stars, including Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Saif Ali Khan, Preity Zinta and Arjun Rampal.In 2005, she had many releases, though most did moderately at the box office.But her film Bluffmaster which released late in 2005 was one of the biggest hits of 2005.

In 2006, she worked in two of the most successful films of the year - Krrish and Don - The Chase Begins Again. She has also recently been on the hit chat show "Koffee with Karan".

Priyanka Chopra was voted Sexiest Asian Woman of 2006 in Eastern Eye, an Asian newspaper published in Britain.

I'm lucky. I don't know whether I'm deserving or not. All I know is that I work damn hard for everything. And God helps those who help themselves. Every day is like an exam. I believe destiny and hard work go hand in hand. I was studying to be an engineer when my mom and my brother sent my pictures for the Miss India contest. I didn't even know about it. If that isn't destiny, what is? (July 2007)