Shilpa Shetty Kundra (born 8 June 1975) is an Indian actress who works mainly in Hindi-language films. Shetty was born in Mangalore, Karnataka in a Tulu-speaking Bunt family. Shetty was educated at St. Anthony’s Girls High School, Chembur, and at Podar College in Matunga. A trained Bharatanatyam dancer, she was the captain of the volleyball team at her school.
Her mother Sunanda and her late father Surendra Shetty were both manufacturers of tamper-proof water caps in the pharmaceutical industry. She is Shamita Shetty’s elder sister.
In 1991, after completing her tenth-grade examinations, Shetty began her career as a model with a Limca television commercial and subsequently featured in several other commercials and advertisements, following which she began receiving offers for film roles. Shetty continued to pursue her career as a model until she became an actress.
In September 1992, Shetty signed for and began working on her first film – the romantic drama Gaata Rahe Mera Dil– to be directed by Dilip Naik which tells the story of a girl involved in a love triangle between two men (played by Ronit Roy and Rohit Roy). However, the film went unreleased, which meant that Shetty’s debut release was her next film, Abbas-Mustan’s thriller Baazigar, alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol.
Shetty made her screen debut in the thriller Baazigar (1993) which garnered her nominations for two Filmfare Awards, after which she played a dual role in the action comedy Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994).
In 2000, Shetty received acclaim for her role in Dhadkan, which earned reasonable takings at the Indian box office. She received several nominations under the Best Actress category in award ceremonies. She would later go on to star with Anil Kapoor and Karisma Kapoor in the film Rishtey (2002). Her comic performance as an eccentric fisherwoman was appreciated and she received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress, in addition to nominations for Best Comedian as well.
In February 2006, Shetty lent support to a BBC World Service Trust television show designed to tackle the problem of HIV-AIDS in India. According to Shetty, the issue was particularly close to her heart as she had portrayed an HIV-positive sufferer in her 2004 film Phir Milenge. In March 2006, various sources reported Shetty’s joining PETA as part of an advertising campaign against the use of wild animals in circuses.
In February 2009, Shetty got engaged to Raj Kundra, with whom she was co-owner of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team Rajasthan Royals. The two married on 22 November 2009. Shetty gave birth to a son on 21 May 2012. The couple had a second child, a girl, on 15 February 2020 via surrogacy.
In early May 2019 the actress, who has long been the poster girl for fitness, launched a holistic wellness app, The Shilpa Shetty app, which features yoga routines, functional training, special regimes (for women who are pregnant, struggling with menstrual cramps and so on), and daily nutrition charts for each program. “I think lifestyle modifications are the need of the hour. There’s something for everyone on the app. You can do the workouts within the comfort of your home, without any equipment,” Shilpa says.
