Apart from acting Vidya promotes Humanitarian causes and supports the Women Empowerment. Apart from acting, Vidya occupies herself for supporting education for young Indians by promoting children's' books; is associated with Americans for Aids Research; with Hale House - that provides support and housing for children born with HIV and drug abuse; as well as hosting forums and attending events for Harvard Aids Institute. When she was single, she was never involved in any scandal and claimed to get along well with both female and male friends. In 2012, s Vidya Balan is an ardent devotee of Shri Sai Baba. She makes it a point to visit the temple every Thursday. She has a flair for learning languages and is proficient in Tamil which is her mother tongue, besides English, Hindi, Malayalam, Bengali and Urdu. Vidya Balan has never been involved in any scandal and has never been in the news for any affairs and is said to have been getting along well with all her co-stars both male and female and is never into any controversy. A perfectionist figure in the Indian Cinema with Beauty and Brains.
Vidya Balan was born in Palghat in a State in Kerala in South India. Her Parents P. R Balan was the Vice President of ETC Channel and her mom has been a home maker. She has an elder sister Priya. Vidya and her family moved to Mumbai and settled down in Chembur when Vidya was very young. She has studied in St. Anthony’s Convent School and thereafter completed her higher studies from St. Xavier’s College from where she got her degree. She has majored in Sociology. She has completed her Masters degree from Bombay University. She was active in theatre workshops and performed at the Prithvi Theatres .Vidya and her sister Priya both have learned the Carnatic Dance form during in their early childhood days and as is the case with most of the traditional Tamil-Iyer families who take pride in getting their daughters enrolled for this form of dance. Vidya in her younger school days was a tomboy and an ardent fan of Shahrukh Khan. She decided one day to shed all that extra weight she had and got herself ready to join the world of modeling and films. Vidya is originally from Kerala and she hails from the Iyer community a Tamilian . She was doing her MA when she was offered a role in a Malayalam film starring Mohanlal, but the film was shelved due to some issues that cropped up with the Director. Vidya speaks fluent English, Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil. During the filming Parineeta in 2005, she learnt Bengali too.
After being rejected by the Tamil Film producer, Vidya was dejected, but she didn’t give up and continue to pursue her ambition and dreams to join in the filmworld. With her efforts she got her first break with a Surf Excel commercial in 1998 which was her debut into the Entertainment Industry.She then went on to appear in several commercials and is said to have completed 90 Advertisements for various brands in India. Vidya appeared in three music videos for Pankaj Udhas, Euphoria and Shubha Mudgal in supporting roles. She also appeared in the Television Serial by Ekta Kapoor’s ‘ Hum Paanch’ which was a very popular serial and much loved family drama and the TRPs were soaring high during the time it was telecast. She later did one more Television Serial , ‘ Hanste Khelte’ .
Vidya Balan soon established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Indian Cinema .It all started with Young Vidya aspiring to do a career in films and from a young age she had decided she wanted to be an actress. Her first acting role came across to her in 1995 with Hum Paanch. While she was appearing for her MA Post Graduation, she was simultaneously making several attempts to get into the filmline. She subsequently featured in Ad films and started doing commercials and music albums. In 2003, she made her film debut as the Protagonist in the Bengali Drama Bhalo Theko and in 2005 she did the film Parineeta followed by her role in the highly successful comedy film Lage Raho Munna Bhai in 2006 which was a Box office Super hit film. She received her initial success with romantic films as well as comedy films with light social genre. Like Heyy Babyy in 2007, Kismat Konnection in 2008 which again met negative reviews. The year 2009 marked the beginning of Vidya’s golden period in the film industry and her career graph shot up to fame and success. As she acted in five films in consecutive roles and with the highly critical Acclaimed film Paa in 2009 she rose to fame. She did a grey film with Black Comedy in 2010 with Ishqiya in 2011 and Thriller film with No One Killed Jessica in 2011. The Biopic film on Silk Smita, The Dirty Picture in 2012 and thriller film Kahaani. With these films one after another she established herself as one of the most successful and brilliant actress and she had truly entered the Bollywood as a leading actress of the Hindi Cinema. For her role in The Dirty Picture, she was portraying the role for a biography of Silk Smita .. Since Silk Smita was known to be a heavy smoker, Vidya Balan to fit into the role with ease started smoking one pack of cigarettes per day to be a chain smoker like Silk.She would get unwell as she was not used to smoking but once the film was completed she quit smoking as she started the vice only to get to the perfection of the role that she was to portray. The first thing you notice about Vidya Balan is her infectious smile and her bubbly vivacious attitude on screen or during her interviews has made her a popular star. The actress is compared to the likes of Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan for their popularity. After giving the few super hit films like The Dirty Picture , Kahaani , the films that followed didn’t do too well even though her performance was always considered to be brilliant and much appreciated the films didn’t do too well at the Box office as expected. In 2007, Vidya featured in Mani Ratnam’s semi biographical drama Guru as a woman suffering from multiple scierosis. In this film she has starred with Mithun Chakraborty, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchaan and R Madhavan in the leading role . The film did well at the Box Office. Her next release was ‘ Salaam-e-Ishq, a romantic comedy by Nikhil Advani in which she is paired opposite to John Abraham.The film narrates six individual love stories and Vidya plays the role of a television repoter. Vidya also did a few supporting roles in the film Eklavya : The Royal Guard. The film failed commercially but she met with critical reviews and was selected to be India’s Official Entry to the Oscars for the 80th Academy Awards Vidya's last film of the year 2007 was Priyadarshan's Bhool Bhulaiyaa a remake of the Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu in 1993 starring with Ameesha Patel, Akshay Kumar and Shiney Ahuja. The film was a commercial success with a world wide revenue of over Rs 830 million . the film was appreciated for Vidya’s role and her brilliant performance for which was also nominated for the Second Filmfare nomination in the Best Actress category. Next was the 2008 release Halla bol. Vidya has played a supporting role with Ajay Devgn and Pankaj Kapur. The film was based on the life of the activist Safdar Hashmi who was killed by the political rivals.. The film was a failure . With her role in the film Paa she considers it as major turning point in her career. She is poignant yet restrained and projects an impressive figure of grace and beauty. The role she plays of being an unwed mother struggling to raise a 12 year old son with Progeria syndrome the role of her son played by the living legend Amitabh Bachchan. Her portrayal as the mother in this film won her several awards including the Filmfare Awrad for the Best Actress and the Screen Award for the Best Actress as well.. . Vidya Balan completed 11 years in Bollywood
| # | Released Date | Type | Credited As | Movie |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 Dec 2025 | Film | Actress | Chenab Gandhi |
| 2 | 31 Dec 2024 | Film | Actress | Indira The Movie |
| 3 | 22 Nov 2024 | Film | Actress | Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 |
| 4 | 19 Apr 2024 | Film | Actress | Do Aur Do Pyaar |
| 5 | 07 Jul 2023 | Film | Actress | Neeyat |
| 6 | 18 Mar 2022 | Film | Actress | Jalsa |
| 7 | 18 Jun 2021 | Film | Actress | Sherni |
| 8 | 31 Jul 2020 | Film | Actress | Shakuntala Devi |
| 9 | 15 Aug 2019 | Film | Actress | Mission Mangal |
| 10 | 08 Aug 2019 | Film | Supporting Actress | Nerkonda Paarvai |
