Diya Mirza Bio (Biography)
Biography
Diya Mirza is a model and actress from Hyderabad, India. She was born in December of 1981 to a German interior designer and his wife, a Bengali. Mirza's parents separated in 1987, and her father died a few years later. When her mother remarried, Diya took her stepfather's family name, Mirza. She is often known by her nickname, Dee. Her official name is Dia Mirza, but she is more often credited as Diya. According to an interview, this was because her name was misspelled on her passport.
Diya first appeared in the 2001 film Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein, a Bollywood film directed by Gautham Menon. A remake of Menon's film Minalle, Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein wasn't much of a success. This would mark the first of a string of unsuccessful films for Diya. However, her luck changed with the 2005 musical movie Parineeta. An adaptation of the 1914 novella by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Parinetta did very well in India. While Diya wasn't a lead in the movie, she did have a good-sized role as the cunning daughter of a wealthy family.
Diya's next major hit was in 2006 with Lage Raho Munna Bhai, a musical comedy that won the 2006 Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie. It was the first Hindi film to be shown at the United Nations and received critical appraise from the prime minister of India, among others. Both Parinetta and Lage Raho Munna Bhai were produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who has cast Diya in several of his other projects.
In addition with frequently working with Chopra, Diya has appeared on screen opposite Arjun Rampel. The two have appeared in six movies, including her second film Deewaanapan, and they co-starred in four different movies in 2006: Alag, Familywala, Dus Kahaniyaan, and Honeymono Travels Pvt. Ltd.
While her film career has had its hits and misses, Diya's modeling and pageant career has almost always resulted in successes for her. Diya's beauty pageant work earned her the title of Miss Asian Pacific in 2000, and in the same year she was named runner up for Miss India.
Diya usually enjoys great support from her fans, but she was involved in a bit of a controversy in 2006 when she and actor Aamir Khan publicly declared their support for the Narmada Bachao Andolan group. The group was protesting the building of the Sardar Sarovar Dam that was to be build across the Narmada river. The group cited environmental issues as its focus, and because of their public support, Diya and Khan were the subject of a protest march by the conservative Bharatiya Janata political party.
In addition to her acting and modeling, Diya has appeared on several television shows as a guest judge, including the popular Indian Idol 2, a version of the hit American Idol.
Diya first appeared in the 2001 film Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein, a Bollywood film directed by Gautham Menon. A remake of Menon's film Minalle, Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein wasn't much of a success. This would mark the first of a string of unsuccessful films for Diya. However, her luck changed with the 2005 musical movie Parineeta. An adaptation of the 1914 novella by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Parinetta did very well in India. While Diya wasn't a lead in the movie, she did have a good-sized role as the cunning daughter of a wealthy family.
Diya's next major hit was in 2006 with Lage Raho Munna Bhai, a musical comedy that won the 2006 Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie. It was the first Hindi film to be shown at the United Nations and received critical appraise from the prime minister of India, among others. Both Parinetta and Lage Raho Munna Bhai were produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who has cast Diya in several of his other projects.
In addition with frequently working with Chopra, Diya has appeared on screen opposite Arjun Rampel. The two have appeared in six movies, including her second film Deewaanapan, and they co-starred in four different movies in 2006: Alag, Familywala, Dus Kahaniyaan, and Honeymono Travels Pvt. Ltd.
While her film career has had its hits and misses, Diya's modeling and pageant career has almost always resulted in successes for her. Diya's beauty pageant work earned her the title of Miss Asian Pacific in 2000, and in the same year she was named runner up for Miss India.
Diya usually enjoys great support from her fans, but she was involved in a bit of a controversy in 2006 when she and actor Aamir Khan publicly declared their support for the Narmada Bachao Andolan group. The group was protesting the building of the Sardar Sarovar Dam that was to be build across the Narmada river. The group cited environmental issues as its focus, and because of their public support, Diya and Khan were the subject of a protest march by the conservative Bharatiya Janata political party.
In addition to her acting and modeling, Diya has appeared on several television shows as a guest judge, including the popular Indian Idol 2, a version of the hit American Idol.