She was just another face in the modeling circuit until she bagged the role of a lifetime in Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. Now, Freida Pinto is a known name worldwide.
Born in Mumbai to Sylvia Pinto, principal of a high school, and Frederick Pinto, a senior branch manager at the Bank Of Baroda, Freida’s stint with the showbiz started when she enrolled herself with modelling agency Elite Model Management.
Freida acted as host for the international travel show ‘Full Circle’ on Zee International Asia Pacific in English. Besides this, she has done many television and print commercials for products such as Wrigleys Chewing Gum, Skoda, Hutch, Airtel, and De Beers.
Surprisingly, Freida Pinto, who studied at Mumbai's St.Xaviers College, only began taking acting classes after completing her debut film - when she attended a three-month workshop by Barry John, the veteran theatre guru, who has even trained Shahrukh Khan.
She is even trained in some forms of Indian classical dance as well as Salsa.
She modeled for two years and spent six months giving auditions for films before she got a call for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. She was short-listed and finally selected for the movie, which took her to the Golden Globes and the Oscars.
