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Indian actress and model Freida Pinto and 50 things from her career and life.
1. Freida Selena Pinto is an Indian actress and model.
2. Hailing from a Mangalorean Catholic family, she wanted to become an actress from a young age.
3. Prior to making her cinematic debut, she worked as a model and a television presenter, and acted in plays while attending college.
4. Freida Pinto continued modeling for four years and enrolled herself in an acting course at the "Barry John's Acting Studio" in Mumbai, and was trained by Barry John.
5. Freida Pinto rose to prominence by playing the leading lady in the 2008 British drama film Slumdog Millionaire, a film that marked her debut.
6. Her performance was well received, and she won the "Breakthrough Performance Award" at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
7. Freida Pinto was nominated at various award ceremonies such as British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) and MTV Movie Awards.
8. Freida Pinto starred in a number of British and American productions, notably You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Immortals (2011), and Trishna (2011), where she played the titular character.
9. Freida Pinto is a part of the Agassi Foundation, a philanthropic organization started by Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf which looks after providing education for deprived children.
10. Freida Pinto was born into a Mangalorean Catholic household in Mumbai.
11. Her mother, Sylvia, is the principal of St. John's High School, Goregaon.
12. Her father, Frederick, is a senior branch manager at the Bank of Baroda.
13. Freida Pinto has an elder sister, Sharon, who works as an associate producer of NDTV, a news channel.
14. When Pinto was five years old, she aspired to become an actress.
15. Freida Pinto studied at the Carmel of St. Joseph School in Malad, Mumbai, where she actively participated in sports and sang in the school choir.
16. Sushmita Sen won Miss Universe 1994, inspiring the ten-year-old Pinto to "be like her-appreciated and a source of inspiration."
17. Freida Pinto completed a degree in arts with a major in English literature, and minors in Psychology and Economics, from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.
18. Freida Pinto is an accomplished dancer in Indian classical dance.
19. Freida Pinto actively participated in plays and amateur theatre while attending college.
20. Freida Pinto joined Elite Model Management and modeled for two and one-half years.
21. Freida Pinto was featured in several television and print advertisements endorsing products such as Wrigley's Chewing Gum, Škoda, Vodafone India, Airtel, Visa, eBay, and DeBeers.
22. Freida Pinto continued to model for four years and appeared in runway shows and magazine covers including Femina and FNL.
23. Freida Pinto took an acting course at "The Barry John's Acting Studio" in Andheri, Mumbai, where she was trained by theatre director Barry John.
24. Before her entry into films, Pinto anchored Full Circle, an international travel show which was aired on Zee International Asia Pacific in English from 2006 to 2008.
25. By that time Pinto auditioned for numerous films, all of which turned out to be unsuccessful. Later in an interview while being questioned about her rejections she added, "I'm glad things happened the way they happened. I needed to be rejected, and I needed to learn that it's part of the game... I can have 100 rejections, but I'm sure there's going to be one particular thing that is almost destined for me to have".
26. Freida Pinto received a call for Slumdog Millionaire; she was short-listed and finally selected to star in the film. Directed by Danny Boyle the film starred Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor and Irrfan Khan. Pinto played the role of Latika, the love interest of the lead character, Jamal. Dubbed as India's answer to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, the film was made on a moderate budget of USD 15 million. Slumdog Millionaire turned out to be a sleeper hit, receiving universal acclaim, mainly for its plot and soundtrack. It also played a vital role in launching the career of Pinto in Hollywood.
27. Freida Pinto herself was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the 2009 BAFTA Awards.
28. In addition, she won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture alongside other cast members from the film.
29. Freida Pinto next starred in Woody Allen's comedy-drama film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, alongside Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Anupam Kher and Naomi Watts. The film premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, receiving negative reviews. Pinto played a minor role as the character Dia.
30. In 2011, Pinto starred in Michael Winterbottom's British drama film Trishna alongside Riz Ahmed; she played the titular character in the film. An adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles, the film first premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. Described by The Guardian as a "seductive, allegorical study of male-female relationships", the film features Pinto as the daughter of a peasant who falls in love with a London-based hotelier, played by Ahmed.
31. Unlike her previous films, Trishna gained positive response from critics. The film was universally acclaimed as it was nominated for the Best Film Award at the London Film Festival and Grand Prix at the Tokyo International Film Festival.
32. In October 2013, Pinto was seen in Bruno Mars's single Gorilla.
33. Freida Pinto was criticised by the Indian media for a sequence involving shedding her clothes and getting intimate with Mars.
34. Pinto's forthcoming releases include Desert Dancer and Misfits. Desert Dancer is a biographical drama film that revolves around the life of a dancer. Pinto underwent rigorous dance training consisting of eight hours of rehearsals a day lasting for 14 weeks, as demanded by the role.
35. Soon after the release of Slumdog Millionaire, Pinto garnered immense popularity and was frequently included in the "Most Beautiful Women in the World" list.
36. In 2009, she was featured in People magazine's "Most Beautiful People List", and "List of World's Best Dressed Women".
37. Freida Pinto was also included in Vogue's 2009 list of the "top ten most stylish women".
38. On 13 May 2009, Pinto became a new spokesmodel for L'Oréal.
39. A controversy arose when she appeared in a TV commercial promoting L'Oreal, as many thought it to be racial discrimination from countries that are possessive about fair skin. The commercial showcased Pinto in what many perceived to be a lighter skin tone due to make-up or editing.
40. People named her one of the "Most Beautiful at Every Age."
41. Before making her film debut Pinto was engaged to former publicist Rohan Antao; the relationship ended in January 2009.
42. After that she started dating her Slumdog Millionaire co-star Dev Patel. The couple lived together in Los Angeles, United States.
43. Later in an interview, Pinto stated that she does not want to act with Patel as she feels they will not be able to meet out the "chemistry" they had in their debut film.
44. On 10 December 2014, the couple announced that they had split after almost six years of dating.
45. Freida Pinto was criticised for having "shunned" the Indian film industry. However, she claimed that she is unable to find roles that suit her in Bollywood. She also stated that she enjoys watching Bollywood films and is keen to act in one in the future.
46. Pinto joined Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf in support of their philanthropic organisation, the "Agassi Foundation". She is the only Indian actress to have participated in their annual fund raiser titled, "The 15th Grand Slam for Children", aimed at raising funds for the education of underprivileged children.
47. In 2012, Pinto joined Plan International's "Because I am a Girl" campaign as Global Ambassador, promoting gender equality to lift millions of girls out of poverty.
48. In 2013, she appeared in a video clip for Gucci's "Chime for Change" campaign to raise funds and awareness of women's issues in terms of education, health, and justice.
49. In April 2013, Pinto collaborated with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim for the Call to Action - Girl Rising campaign. The documentary film Girl Rising made by Academy Award nominee Richard E. Robbins, showcases the power of education in transforming girls' lives around the globe.
50. In July 2014, Pinto spoke at the Girl Summit in London, where she called for more progress toward the end of female genital mutilation and child marriage.
