Kangana Ranaut is an Indian film actress. She has established a career in Bollywood and is the recipient of two National Film Awards and Filmfare Awards in four categories. Ranaut is particularly known in the media for expressing her honest opinions in public and is frequently credited as one of the most fashionable Indian celebrities. She was born on 23 March 1987 in Bhambla, Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh, India. Kangana started her career as a theatre actor in Delhi with the Asmita Theatre Group. She trained under eminent theatre director Arvind Gaur. She then went on to join Asha Chandra’s three-month course in 2004 to brush herself to face camera after which she moved to Mumbai to try her luck in movies. In September 2005, Film maker Anurag Basu spotted her drinking coffee in a café, he approached her, and eventually signed her up for a lead role in Gangster which was released during the year 2006. Gangster became both critically and commercially successful and Kangana’s performance was especially applauded. This was followed by another acclaimed performance in Who Lamhe (2006).

In 2007, she appeared as an aspiring singer in Shakalaka Boom Boom. However, her most noteworthy role happened with Fashion (2008) in which she starred alongside Priyanka Chopra and Mugdha Godse. The film portrayed  the dark side of the fashion world and received grand critical success. Her role in the film as a supermodel who loses everything on drug abuse gained her widespread praise, fetching her various awards, including the prestigious Filmfare as well as the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. Raaz – The Mystery Continues (2009) with Emraan Hashmi was her last successful film. . The movie has been a commercial success and was declared as first reasonable hit of 2009. She has also starred in South Indian films such as Dhaam Dhoom in Tamil and Ek Niranjan in Telugu. In 2016, she received the Critics Award for Best Actress Filmfare.