Vidya Balan is an award-winning Indian actress who appears in Bollywood movies. Her father, P. R. Balan, is the Vice President of ETC Channel and her mother is a homemaker. Balan also has an older sister named Priya. Vidya Balan grew up in Mumbai and attended St. Anthony's Girls High School, St. Xavier's College, Bombay and later the University of Mumbai. She graduated from college with a sociology degree.

Balan's movie career started when she was signed to appear in the Malayalam film Chakram, alongside superstar Mohanlal but the movie was shelved. She later made her Hindi film debut with Parineeta (2005), for which she received a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award, and received her first commercial success with Rajkumar Hirani's Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006). Balan has thus established herself as one of the most promising actresses of the industry. In 2003, she appeared in the Bengali film, Bhalo Theko, for which she won the Anandalok Puraskar Best Actress award in Kolkata. Balan next made her Hindi film debut in the critically acclaimed Parineeta. The film performed moderately well at the box office and her performance was acclaimed by critics, earning her a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award and a nomination for Filmfare Best Actress Award.

After the success of her first two films, the same producer who dropped her from Manasellam was keen to sign her opposite Kamal Hassan for Dasavatharam. But Vidya rejected the offer and Asin Thottumkal was signed instead. In 2006, she appeared opposite Sanjay Dutt in the blockbuster film Lage Raho Munna Bhai. Once again her performance was well received by critics and the film went on to become the second highest grossing film of that year.

Mani Ratnam's critically acclaimed Guru was Balan's first release in 2007, in which she played a woman with a physical disability. The film did very well at the box office and her role was appreciated. Her next two releases, Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute To Love (2007) and Eklavya: The Royal Guard (2007) failed to do well but the latter was selected as India's official entries to the Oscars for the 80th Academy Awards. Vidya's latest two releases, Heyy Babyy (2007) and Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007) have fared very well at the box office.