Freida Pinto Actress and Professional Models

Freida Kaur Pinto (born October 18, 1984) is an Indian actress and professional model, best known for her performance as Latika in her debut film Slumdog Millionaire, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2009.

She learned acting from The Barry John's Acting Studio in Andheri and was trained by her mentor Barry John.

Pinto won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

Freida Pinto was born in Mumbai to Sylvia Pinto, a principal of St. John’s Universal High School (Goregaon), and Frederick Pinto, a senior branch manager at the Bank of Baroda.

Freida Pinto's father is from Neerude and mother from Derebail, both towns in Mangalore. Her elder sister Sharon Pinto is an associate producer on the NDTV news channel.

Pinto studied at Carmel of St. Joseph School in Malad and completed her Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in English Literature from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.

She currently resides in Malad, a suburb of Mumbai. She is also trained in different forms of Indian classical dance as well as Salsa.

In an interview, Pinto stated that although she is "completely pure Indian", some of her ancestors were probably from Portuguese background, which explains the origin of her surname Pinto.

Before starring in Slumdog Millionaire, Pinto anchored the international travel show, Full Circle on Zee International Asia Pacific in English between 2006-08.

Pinto was also featured in several television and print advertisements for products such as Wrigley's Chewing Gum, Škoda, Vodafone India, Airtel, and DeBeers. Pinto modeled for four years and appeared in runway shows and magazine covers.

After six months of auditions, she received a call to audition for Slumdog Millionaire. Pinto auditioned for Danny Boyle and was short-listed and finally selected to star in Slumdog Millionaire.

Pinto made her film debut in 2008. Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of a young man from the slums of Mumbai who appears on a game show and exceeds people's expectations, arousing the suspicions of the game show host and of law enforcement officials. In the movie, Pinto played the role of Latika, the girl with whom Jamal (Dev Patel) is in love. At the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, the movie won the Cadillac People's Choice Award.