Smriti Zubin Irani

Smriti Malhotra now Smriti Z Irani was born on 23 March, 1976 in Delhi.Eldest among 3 sisters, her father owned a courier service. Her Father is Punjabi and her mother is Bengali. In her school days Smriti became sports captain and tried her hand out in Singing.Smriti was an introvert and got her education through correspondence. At the age of 16, Smriti started selling beauty products on street side and took that as a working experience.

Smriti then decided to come out of her Dad's shadow and do something of her own, got enrolled for Femina Miss India competition. Initially her father was against her decision but with mother's support Smriti made it to finals of the competition but couldn't win the crown and the actual struggle started for Smriti. Smriti had borrowed Rs.2 lakh from her father as loan and had to pay back. Inorder to pay back the loan and survive in the city of Mumbai, Smriti applied for flight-attendant position and was rejected. Smriti then went up to several auditions for commercials but was rejected for the simple reason that she did not look like a Indian Woman. Inorder to survive Smiriti took up a job at a fast-food-joint serving people and sweeping floors.

Simultaneously, Smriti kept auditioning at various places like MTV and other production houses and co-incidently got to host a show on Star Plus called Bakeman's Oo La La. It was on this show that Shobha Kapoor of Balaji Telefilms saw and introduced Smriti to her daughter Ekta Kapoor, who auditioned her for Hum Paanch serial for the role of Sweety but was not able to make there. It was after 3 months that Smriti was called again by Balaji to audition for the role of Tulsi in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.

Over night Tulsi became popular with the masses across the globe and Smriti became face of every Indian Woman and after that there was no looking back. One after another Smriti attained heights of success that no other Indian Television Actor has achieved so far. After playing Tulsi for years, Smriti took forward another step in her career in TV industry by starting her own production house called Ugraya Entertainment Pvt Ltd, she initially produced a play in Hindi called Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Hum Kahein and later on a Gujarati play title Maniben.com. Both her ventures were a instant hit at the box office.

After this success venture, Smriti along with Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms produced a show for Star Plus called Thodi Si Zameen Thoda Sa Aasmaan where she played protagonist Uma. Later she produced show for Sony called Virruddh where she played main protagonist Vasudha. With the success of Virruddh, a rift took place between Ekta Kapoor and Smriti which made Smriti leave iconic character of Tulsi in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi which made her household name. Along with career in television and theatre, Smriti plunged into politics with Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP) in 2003. In 2004 she unsuccessfully contested for Lok Sabha from Chandni Chowk constituency. Her dedication made her Vice-President of BJP's youth wing in Maharashtra along with National Executive of the state.

Smriti apart from being an actor/producer/politician is also a social worker and has formed her own NGO called People For Change which provides clean drinking water to villages. The funding of NGO is done by Smriti from her own earning. In addition Smriti lend a helping hand to the people affected by Mumbai floods in 2005 by gathering food-grains with the help of radio channel and network of people. Smriti has also adopted around 15 poor children and she looks after their education.Smriti is actively involved in politics and social work. She is busy with her new Gujarati play title Muktidham which is produced by her own company.