Honored with a Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2014, Vidya Balan is an actress predominantly working in the Hindi cinema for more than 20 years. From her childhood days, she wanted to be an actress and started working at the age of 16. In 1995, she made a debut in the industry with Ekta Kapoor’s show ‘Hum Paanch’. After the show, Balan was offered a role in a television show, but she refused it since she wanted to establish a film career. She was supposed to make her film debut with the Malayalam film ‘Chakram’. However, the movie was shelved, and she was labeled as a "jinx." Later, she worked in the 2003 Bengali film 'Bhalo Theko', her first movie release, Balan finally made a debut in Hindi cinema with the film ‘Parineeta’ in 2005. She won the ‘Best Female Debut’ for her performance in the movie. Then, she featured in ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’ (2006), which became the highest-grossing film at the time. Further, ‘Salaam-e-Ishq’, ‘Eklavya’, ‘Heyy Babyy’, and ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ got her immense recognition among the audience. Balan won the National Film Award for Best Actress for ‘Dirty Picture’ (2011). Also, she is a recipient of six Filmfare Awards.