Vidya Balan is an Indian actress, who appears in Hindi films

Bollywood

Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

. After graduating with a degree in sociology

Sociology

Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

, she started her career starring in music videos, television shows and commercials, before appearing in feature films.

Balan made her movie debut in the Bengali film

Bengali cinema

Bengali cinema refers to the Bengali language filmmaking industries in the Bengal region of South Asia. There are two major film-making hubs in the region: one in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and the other in Dhaka, Bangladesh .The history of cinema in Bengal dates back to the 1890s, when the first...

, Bhalo Theko

Bhalo Theko

Bhalo Theko is a Bengali Movie based on Leena Gangopadhaya's story Janmadin, and was released in 2003. Directed by Gautam Halder, the movie featured Soumitra Chatterjee, Joy Sengupta, Debshankar Halder and Vidya Balan. This movie is Vidya Balan's cinematic debut.- Plot :The film is set...

 in 2003. She later made her Hindi film debut with Parineeta

Parineeta (2005 film)

Parineeta is a Bollywood musical film adaptation of the 1914 Bengali novella, Parineeta by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Directed by debutant Pradeep Sarkar, the film was based upon a screenplay by the film's producer, Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The film featured Vidya Balan, Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt...

 (2005), which earned her a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut as well as her first Best Actress nomination at the same ceremony.