Meet actor who left psychology degree only to enter showbiz, worked with Shah Rukh Khan, Shahid Kapoor but now takes up selective work
She is one of the most loved actresses in the film industry. Before appearing in films, she did several commercials during her college days. Guess her!
![Meet actor who left psychology degree only to enter showbiz, worked with Shah Rukh Khan, Shahid Kapoor but now takes up selective work (Image Credit: Amrita Rao Instagram) Meet actor who left psychology degree only to enter showbiz, worked with Shah Rukh Khan, Shahid Kapoor but now takes up selective work](https://www.pinkvilla.com/images/2024-07/449333338_amrita-rao.jpg)
The Bollywood industry has witnessed several stars who have left their previous careers to become actors for ages. After joining the industry, they work hard to cement their places. While some get success overnight, others try for years.
Today's 'meet the actor' is one such actress who dropped her Psychology degree to pursue a modeling career and later did superhit films. She is none other than Amrita Rao. Let's dive deep into her career.
Amrita Rao's impressive acting career
Amrita Rao primarily works in Hindi films and is widely known for her quintessential girl-next-door portrayals. Rao studied at Canossa Girls School, Andheri (Bombay), then at Sophia College (Mumbai) to pursue a graduate degree in Psychology but dropped out to take a modeling career.
Before starting her career as an actor, Rao, along with her sister Preetika, appeared in several commercials during her college days, and her first public appearance was in the music video for Alisha Chinai's song Woh Pyar Mera.
Amrita made her acting debut with the film Raj Kanwar's fantasy thriller Ab Ke Baras (2002) alongside debutante Aarya Babbar. She played her first leading role as Anjali Thapar in the movie. Rao next starred alongside Ajay Devgn in the biographical period film The Legend of Bhagat Singh, in which she played the role of Mannewali (Bhagat's fiancé). However, the film did not perform well.
Her breakthrough role came in 2003 with the coming-of-age romance film Ishq Vishk opposite Shahid Kapoor, in their first of several collaborations, as a college student. The film became a superhit, and both the film and Rao's performance received critical acclaim.
In 2005, Shahid and Amrita did two films together - Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi! and Shikhar. Rao played the female lead role in Sooraj R. Barjatya's romance Vivah (2006), marking her fourth collaboration with Shahid.
The film depicted the journey of two individuals from engagement to marriage. Rao portrayed Poonam, a traditionally raised young woman. This film became one of the most popular films of Amrita Rao to date.
On the other hand, Rao made her debut as a Judge with the 2009 television show Perfect Bride. She Judged the show alongside Shekhar Suman and Malaika Arora.
Her other films include Heyy Babyy, Athidhi, Jolly LLB, and more. She also did a movie with Shah Rukh Khan named Main Hoon Na. The film also starred Zayed Khan and Sushmita Sen.
Amrita Rao's personal life
She tied the knot with RJ Anmol in 2016. They welcomed a baby boy, Veer, on November 1, 2020. In an anniversary special video on their channel Couple of Things, Amrita and Anmol revealed that they had spent only ₹1.5 lakhs on their wedding, which included their outfits, venue, and other expenses.
Amrita said, "I wanted to wear a traditional outfit. My saree's cost was ₹3000... I didn't want to wear designer clothes... I wore artificial jewelry. My mangalsutra was only ₹18,000," Amrita said. She added, "We have always believed that marriage is love. Money is not a showpiece. We only wanted our family and close friends to be at our wedding... We didn’t spend much on the wedding and we enjoyed it."
On the other hand, Anmol shared that their marriage was a reflection of their personalities, and they wanted to do it transparently. Meanwhile, the couple's talk show Couple of Things is quite popular.
Amrita Rao's social media presence
The actress has 1.5 Million followers (as of July 22, 2024) on her Instagram account. She follows 17 accounts and so far did 796 posts. Every post gets lots of love from her fans and followers.
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