Vidya Balan, one of the beautiful and talented actors of Bollywood film industry, was born on January 1, 1982. She is from Tamil Iyer community. Her native place is Palghat, a place near the border of Tamilnadu and Kerala. Her father is P.R. Balan, vice president of ETC channel. Her mother is a house wife. Vidya has an older sister, priya balan. Though her native place is Palghat( formerly known as Palakkad), she grew up in mumbai. She had her schooling from St.Anthony's Girls High School. Later she attended St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, where she got her graduation in sociology. She later attended Mumbai university for her MA.

Vidya started her career as a model in 1998 with a Surf Excel advertisement. Before she entered film industry, she modeled for more than 25 brands. It was when she was doing her MA at Mumbai university that she was offered a spot opposite Malayali superstar Mohanlal. But much to her disappointment the film was left mid-way. Later she acted in two serials and some music videos. The tv serials are Ashok Pandit's Hanste Khelte and Ektaa Kapoor's Hum Paanch, and the music videos she worked in are of Euphoria, Shubha Mudgal, and Pankaj Udhas. She finally made her film debut with the Bengali film Bhalo Theko. She won the Best Actress Anand Lok Puraskar award for her performance in the film. In the same year she made her Bollywood debut with the film Parineeta.