Anushka Sharma is an extremely popular Indian actress and a respectable movie producer who entered the Forbes list of 30 under 30 most influential and successful business entrepreneurs in Asia.
Anushka is also involved in the fashion industry as a notable fashion designer.
She is considered to be a role model for Indian women since she is very disciplined but still incredibly warm and emotional women who will help everyone in need.
Early years
She was born as Anushka Sharma on May 1, 1988, in the town of Ayodhya, located in Uttar Pradesh, one of the states located in the north of India.
She was raised in a military family, with her father being a colonel in the army. Her father Ajay Kumar Sharma is a native of Ayodhya. Anushka grew up living a happy and protected life due to her father’s work and managed to grow up in a strong-willed and successful woman.
She is grateful to her parents for everything they did for her and often says that it helped her achieve her goals because she learned from them not to ever give up on your dreams.
Anushka has an older brother whose first career choice was in the Merchant Navy but he later turned to film production. He was very successful in his military career, just as his father, but he wanted to settle down and start a family so he decided to turn to the film industry which brought recognition both to him and his sister.
Anushka is very proud of being a daughter of an army officer and often stated that it shaped her into a hardworking person she is today. Her relationship with her father was always very tight and she was trying also to impress him by her work although he never expressed it to her that she needed to.
Anushka grew up in Bangalore where she went to the Army School. It was because she was the daughter of a person who works in the military so it was considered good to follow the path of the parents.
After finishing school she continued her education at Mount Carmel College where she gained her degree in arts. It was there where she realized that she is talented for arts, acting and public performance. Her beauty and looks helped her get more noticed at first so it didn’t take a lot of time for her to become a star.
Her first career interests were becoming a model or a journalist and way never thinking of becoming an actress.
Journalism was her dream for years because it was a career that could enable her to travel but also a career that could make her do a difference and help people since she was kind-hearted and empathic from her birth.
But modeling was also something that attracted her because she was aware of her beauty and physique which brought her many offers, both romantic and business.
That is why she entered a model agency named Elite Model Management where she was taken under the care of Prasad Bidapa, a known stylist and a choreographer. He is considered to be one of the most popular fashion gurus in India and he helped her to discover more ways to show her beauty, from her moves to her fashion style…
In 2007 she debuted at the Lakme Fashion Week where she walked the runway for a known designer called Wendell Rodricks. She became his first finale model in his 2007 collection because he discovered her talent and wanted to put the focus on her.
After that, she did several campaigns for known Indian apparel lines. These campaigns enabled her to live very cozily since it brought her financial security so she could live without worries and travel as she wanted.
She has even received several offers for acting in movies and series since she was at that time a very familiar face in India’s entertainment industry. But she decided not to take them because she lacked experience in that area.
During this time she decided to enter the acting school and started going to auditions in the hope of getting a movie role. Acting school was great for her and she soon realized that it was a good decision for her. She was more confident and sure about her public appearances and discovered that she has a talent for acting.
Career development
Going to auditions brought her a debut performance in a movie. Her first role came with a role in a romantic drama movie titled “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi”, a movie written and directed by Aditya Chopra. She starred in it alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Vinay Pathak.
The movie was a big hit and managed to earn ten times more the budget which was spent on it. This movie became the 2ns grossing Hindi movie in 2008 and Sharma managed to get her first nomination for a Filmfare Award in the category of the Best Actress and also the Best Female Debut.
It was very interesting for everyone involved to see how she became a star after just one movie and a lot of them worried that it will affect her negatively and that she will start being sloppy because of it. But Anushka continued to work hard and prepare herself for other roles.
In 2010 she appeared in the comedy directed by Parmeet Sethi called “Badmaash Company” where she starred alongside Shahid Kapoor and Vir Dar. This movie, however, wasn’t received that good.
Her third movie was “Band Baaja Baaraat” where she starred alongside Ranveer Singh. It was a difficult movie to make for her because she had to learn to speak in the Punjabi dialect and to speak very fast. Although critics weren’t expecting this movie to be successful it turned out to be a hit. Her performance was highly praised both by critics and the public and she was proud to receive another nomination for the Best Actress at the Filmfare Award. All these 3 movies were produced by Yash Raj Films.
This movie was also very important to her emotionally since it was where she first met and worked with Ranveer Singh with whom she later became romantically involved.
In 2011 she appeared in a sports drama movie called “Patiala House” where she starred alongside Rishi Kapoor and Akshay Kumar.this sports drama produced by Bhushan Kumar was telling the story of cricket and family issues surrounding it. She was very focused on making her role in the movie realistic.
In 2011 she appeared in a comedy movie titled “Ladies vs Ricky Bahl” which received mixed reviews but had some box office success. This romantic comedy directed by Maneesh Sharma brought her a chance to play the role of a strong woman. She plays one of three women who were coned by a man and they gather together for revenge and they became united to con him back.
In 2012 she appeared in “Jab Tak Hai Jaan”, a romantic drama directed by Yash Chopra. She started there alongside Shah Rukh Khan. She has won the Filmfare award for the Best Supporting Actress in this movie. This movie became a very lucrative movie for the production house. Her next appearance was in “Matru Ki Bijlec Ka Mandila” in 2013, directed by Vishal Bhardwaj.
She starred there alongside Imran Khan and Shabana Azmi. The film gained good reviews but wasn’t very lucrative for the production house.
In 2014y she was hired for a role in “PK”. It was a satirical comedy movie directed by Rajkumar Hirani. She starred with Aamir Khan and Sanjay Dutt and the movie turned out to be a big success, earning ten times more than budget. It has earned over $100 million.
The success of this movie is in its story about an alien who comes to earth and loses his remote very early because it was stolen from him. He tries to find it and during this time he gets to know Indian life, religion, and superstitions.
Anushka showed great interest in movie producing so she has launched her production company named “Clean Slate Films”. She had launched her production and distribution company in 2014 and the headquarters of the company is in Mumbai.
She did it together with her brother Karnesh Sharma, believing that they are going to be able to release films with a message and which people will appreciate.
The first movie her production house has released was named “NH10” directed by Navdeep Singh. The film was praised by the critics and she was especially praised for her role in the movie. The movie was also a big financial success. She starred in it herself and the movie was finally released on the Beijing International Movie Festival where it was received very warm by the public and the critics.
In 2015 she gained a role in “Bombay Velvet”, a crime thriller directed by Anurag Kashyap.
This thriller movie was based on the book named “Mumbai Fables”, written by Gyan Prakash. The movie was her first big failure because it was considered that the script was very poor.
This movie brought speculation about her use of plastic surgery but she revealed that she used temporary lip enhancers for the role. The film wasn’t a success and didn’t even manage to earn its budget.
Again in 2015, she starred in a Zoya Akhtar’s comedy movie called “Dil Dhadakne Do”. Her co-stars were Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh, and Farhan Akhtar. She was nominated for the Filmfare Awards in the category of Best Supporting Actress for both of the movies she filmed in this year which was a huge thing for her after the failure of the movie before.
In 2016 she starred in a movie “Sultan”, produces by Yash Raj Films. It was a romantic drama where she played the role of a female wrestler and she trained two months for the role. The film gained mixed reviews but Anushka was praised for the role.
Still, the movie has earned a lot of money and was very lucrative for Anushka. She established her position as a very popular actress and a talented businesswoman. This brought her wide respect from everyone involved in the film industry.
Her next role in a romantic drama movie called “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” brought her further success. Her co-actors were Ranbir Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai. Ahe was again nominated for the Best Female Actress at the Filmfare Awards. These two movies brought her a huge amount of money and the became the top paid actress in Bollywood in 2016.
In 2017, she started alongside Suraj Sharma and Diljit Dosanjh in a fantasy comedy movie called “Phillauri”. This movie was produced by Clean Slate Studio, with Anushka and her brother involved in its production.
This was the first time she sang in the movie, in the single named “Naughty Billo” which was sang by Dilljit Dosanjh and Nalash Aziz.
In “Jab Harry Met Sejal”, where she starred with Shah Rukh Khan, she played a great role but the movie was a bust. It was a Hindi romantic drama which was not very well received in India but it was surprisingly very well received overseas. It was interesting that the movie earned $12 million in India and $10 million overseas. That meant that the movie became one of the Top 3 Indian movies overseas based on the money it has earned.
In 2018 she starred in a horror movie called “Pari” which was a debut direction production by Prosit Ray. This movie was involved in a controversy after a technician was electrocuted during the filming. It was also banned in several countries because some considered it promotes Black Magic, which was considered anti-Muslim.
Her next role was in “Sanju” where she starred alongside Ranbir Kapoor. The movie was a biographic movie about the life of Sanjay Dutt who was a popular Indian actor. It has earned over $70 million.
Her following role was in “Sui Dhaaga”, a comedy-drama movie where she stars alongside Varun Dhawan. The film was a huge success and received many Filmfare nominations.
Her next feature was in a drama movie called “Zero” with Shah Rukh Khan in the leading role. She also produced two movies for Netflix.
Personal life
In 2015 Sharma turned to vegetarianism and was soon named as “The Person of the Year” by PETA.
She practices meditation a lot because she often has anxiety attacks.
She has her own clothing line called Nush which brings her a lot of money because women like to dress up as she does and a lot of her collections are sold out soon after the release.
She practices Hindu and often goes to shrines. Her spiritual guru is Maharaj Anant Baba and she is very happy about it.
In 2010 she was in a romantic relationship with Ranveer Singh, her colleague actor but she never spoke of it.
Her relationship with Virat Kohli, an Indian cricketer started in 201e and although they had some relationship issues they got married in Italy in 2017. Virat and Anushka are as a pair called Virushka.
As for her car, she drives a Range Rover Vogue of grey color which is extremely expensive.
Quick summary
Full name: Anushka Sharma
Date of birth: May 1, 1988
Birthplace: Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India
Age: 31
Profession: model, actress, businesswoman, producer
Height: 168 cm
Weight: 57 kg
Net Worth: $60 million