Preity Zinta
Preity Zinta
Preity Zinta is an Indian film actress. She has appeared in Hindi films of Bollywood, as well as Telugu, Punjabi and English language films. After graduating with a degree in criminal psychology, Zinta made her acting debut in Dil Se.. in 1998 followed by a role in Soldier the same year. These performances earned her a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut, and she was later recognised for her role as a teenage single mother in Kya Kehna. She subsequently...
NationalityIndian
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth31 January 1975
CityShimla, India
CountryIndia
In the end of the day, you are human. Film is a job which is not an individual job; you have tons and tons of people behind you - you have a whole crew of people working. But, an actor is the face of a film, so you get all of the good things, but you get the bad things, also.
There will always be competition, especially in showbiz. There's always someone younger and hungrier standing behind you; there's always someone with more contacts; there's always someone whose grandfather or father is a filmmaker. I think your job is just to be there 100% - you work hard, and there are no shortcuts to success.
I'm more grounded now. I've started doing fewer films. I've started meditating. I want to live my today because I may not have a tomorrow.
I never thought I'd be an actor - ever. I had never gone to film school or done a dance class.
It really made me think about why everybody around me went and I didn't.
It's not that acting was something I'd always wanted to do. I had no formal training; I'd never really imagined I'd be an actress. Business was something that had always been in my mind, but when I got into acting, I learned everything on set, and for me at that point, I wanted to excel at what I did.
In my career as an actress, I have never got involved with anybody from the world of films. I have always kept my professional and personal life separate, as that's my policy.
In 2008, I just decided that there will come a time when I am dead and gone, and I only have a body of work to show. That was when I did films like 'Last Lear' and Deepa Mehta's 'Heaven On Earth.' They were serious roles.
I think no one but me has the right to write about my life as I want to write it in a particular way. I don't think any other person will be able to tell the story of my life like how I have approached it. It works best when it's written by someone who has experienced it herself.
Acting can truly take a toll on your nerves. I mean, we have to be larger than life. Worse, I've seen actors acting off the sets, too.
If women want to be treated equally, then they can't ask for sops and whine about not being treated equally. All I'll say is no guts, no glory for men or women.
I'm glad I made business investments, because it gave me the confidence financially to make brave choices. If I hadn't done that, I'd still have been trying to play 19-year-olds in films. I know there are other avenues for me.
I'm an actor, and I keep observing people and their reactions to figure out what they are thinking. There's only so much you can do on your own, so you have to keep learning. Art imitates life.
As an actress, I never went to film school, and I think if I had gone to film school, I would have started with a great advantage. If you have a strong intent to do anything in life, you can do it, but it always helps to have formal training.