From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dia Mirza, Hindi: दिया मिर्ज़ा ^{[1] [2]} nicknamed Dee, (born 9 December 1981) is a former Indian model and actress who appears in Bollywood films. She was second runner up at Femina Miss India 2000 and was subsequently sent to Miss Asia Pacific 2000 where she won.

Personal life and education

Dia Mirza was born in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India to a Bengali Indian mother and a German father.

When living in Khairatabad, Hyderabad, she attended Vidyaranya High School For Boys And Girls, a school based on the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti, and later Nasr School, in Kushnuma.^[3]. She completed her graduation in Bachelors of Arts from Open University, Hyderabad.

Career

Dia wanted to complete her graduation in Arts by correspondence, but decided to postpone it as it was becoming difficult to juggle between the Miss Asia Pacific Competition, modeling assignments, traveling and training. She was assisted by Sabira Merchant on diction and etiquette; diet with Anjali Mukherjee; gymnasium and physical fitness with Talwalkars; clothes from Ritu Kumar and Hemant Trivedi; skin care with Dr. Jamuna Pai; and make-up and hair-care from Bharat and Doris Godambe.^[4] She is proficient in Telugu, Urdu, Bengali, Hindi, English.^[5]

Film career

She made her cinematic debut with Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein opposite R. Madhavan.^[6] The film was not a box office success. A series of unsuccessful films followed, among them Tumsa Nahin Dekha and Deewaanapan. She won the Best Debutante Female in 2001.

In 2005, Mirza appeared in Parineeta, a Vidhu Vinod Chopra production. She also played in the music video Kajara Mohabbat Wala alongside Sonu Nigam from the album Kajara Nite. The album contained multiple remixes, but was mainly advertised with the title song, sang by Sonu Nigam and Alisha Chinai.^[7]

She has also appeared in the movie Dus and in Fight Club. She will appear later this year in Familywala and Naa Naa Karte. Dia was the only female actor among the key 6 characters in the movie Acid Factory. She plays a femme fatale who is also a gangster, in the film.^[8]

Community Service

She has been involved with Cancer Patients Aid Association, Spastics Society of India, worked extensively with government of Andhra Pradesh to spread HIV Awareness, Prevention of Female Foeticide, PETA, CRY and most recently the NDTV Greenathon – an effort to find tangible solutions against pollution and Book deke dheko by radio mirchi (a campaign initiated to collect books for underprivileged children).

Hobbies

Writing - has written several articles for The Hindustan Times and various other publications as a guest writer. Reading, Painting, Pottery, Horse Riding and Theatre.

Controversies

She and fellow-actor Aamir Khan publicly expressed support for the Narmada Bachao Andolan, a group protesting the building of a dam. This aroused the ire of political activists from the Bharatiya Janata Party, who led a protest march against the actress:^[9]

Filmography