Born: July 18, 1982

      Jharkhand, Bihar, India

Nationaliy: Indian

 

After winning the Miss World 2000 and Miss World Continental Queen of Beauty titles Priyanka began gaining recognition and she began receiving film role offers. She has become one of Bollywood's highest-paid actresses. Her acting debut was in 2002 where she starred in the Tamil film Thamizhan. Most recently, in 2015 she began playing Alex Parrish on Quantico, an ABC drama, and became the first South Asian woman to headline an American network series. She has also been in many stage shows, has written columns for newspapers, and has even released some music. She is also UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Child Rights in 2010.

 

Both of Priyanka's parents were physicians in the Indian Army. Due to this, her family relocated to different places in India, including Delhi, Chandigarh, Ambala, Ladakh, Lucknow, Bareilly, and Pune. She said she didn't mind constantly moving because she welcomed it as a new experience and a way to discover India's multicultural society. When she was thirteen, she moved to the United States with her aunt, who also moved a lot. In her teenage years she faced racial issues and was bullied for being Indian by an African-American classmate. She returned to India after three years to finish her senior year at the Army Public School in Bareilly. At this time she won the "May Queen" beauty pageant. She also won Miss World 2000 and Miss World Continental Queen of Beauty. Priyanka had enrolled in college and aspired to study engineering or psychiatry, but after gaining recognition she decided to get into the movie business.

 

She has a brother named Siddharth that is seven years younger than her. Her father died on June 2013 and to honor him she got a tattoo reading "Daddy's lil girl" in his handwriting. Her mom gave up her gyneacologist practice to support Priyanka in her film career.