Personal life and education

Mirza was born in India. Her father, Frank Handrich, was a German graphic and industrial fair designer, architect, artist and interior designer from Munich. Her mother, Deepa, is a Bengali Hindu who is an interior designer, landscaper and currently does social work as a volunteer to help alcoholics and addicts. They separated when she was four years old. Her father died when she was nine and her mother married Ahmed Mirza, who died in 2003.

When living in Khairatabad, Hyderabad city, she attended Vidyaranya High School for Boys and Girls, a school partly based on the teachings of Jiddu Krishnamurti, and later Nasr School, in Khairtabad. She attended Stanley Junior College and completed her graduation in Bachelor of Arts from Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad.

In April 2014, she got engaged to her longtime business partner Sahil Sangha. Mirza and Sangha got married on 18 October 2014 at New Delhi's Chattarpur farm.

Biography

Dia Mirza worked while in college as a marketing executive for a media firm, Neeraj's Multi-media Studio. At the same time she modeled for print and TV commercials for brands like Lipton, Wall's ice cream, Emami and many more. She won Miss Asia Pacific in 2000.

Mirza wanted to complete her graduation in Arts by correspondence but postponed it as it was becoming difficult to juggle between the Miss Asia Pacific competition, modelling assignments, travelling and training. She could not complete her graduation due to being busy at work. She studied at NYU.

She debuted through Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein which could not do well at the box office. Then she appeared in movies like Dum, Deewanapan, Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge, Tumsa Nahin Dekha - A Love Story, Parineeta, Dus, Lage Raho Munnabhai.

She has garnered a lot of praise for her social work. She got an IIFA 2012 Green Award for her contribution towards green environment. She has done awareness campaigns on prevention of female foeticide, HIV awareness, the Cancer Patients Aid Association, PETA, ADAPT, CRY. She publicly supported the Naramada Bachao Andolan. She has written articles for Hindustan Times and other publications.

Film career

Mirza made her cinematic debut with Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein opposite R. Madhavan. Later, she appeared in Parineeta, a Vidhu Vinod Chopra production.

In 2012, Mirza tried her luck into regional cinema with Bengali filmmaker Pratim Dasgupta's Paanch Adhyay. The movie turned out to be a success and was selected by film festivals in India and across the world.

She appeared in the films Dus and Fight Club. She was the only female actor among the six key characters Acid Factory, in which she played a gangster femme fatale, but the film was a failure. Mirza will next be featuring in Johny Mastana, Bits and Pieces, Kayanat, Bidhaatar Lekha and Familywala.

Titles

Mirza was a second runner up at Femina Miss India 2000 and was subsequently sent to Miss Asia Pacific 2000, where she won. She also won Miss Beautiful Smile, Miss Avon and Miss Close-Up Smile in Miss India. When she won the Miss Asia Pacific title on 3 December 2000 in Manila, Philippines, she became the first Indian to win this title in 29 years. She completed the hat-trick of India winning international pageants in the year 2000; Lara Dutta won the Miss Universe title and Priyanka Chopra won the Miss World title in the same year.

Community services and activism

Mirza has been involved with Cancer Patients Aid Association, Spastics Society of India, and has worked extensively with government of Andhra Pradesh to spread HIV awareness, prevention of female foeticide, PETA, CRY and most recently the NDTV Greenathon - an effort to find tangible solutions against pollution and book, "Deke Dheko" by Radio Mirchi (a campaign initiated to collect books for underprivileged children). Her other hobbies include writing, reading, painting, pottery, horse riding and theatre. She has written several articles for the Hindustan Times and other publications as a guest writer. She is on the board of the Coca Cola foundation that works towards development in rural India. She is associated with campaigns such as Sanctuary Asia's Leave Me Alone and Female Foeticide.

She recently adopted two cheetah cubs at the Prince of Wales zoological park in Lucknow.

Mirza, along with Aamir Khan publicly expressed support for the Narmada Bachao Andolan, a group protesting the building of a dam. This aroused the ire of political activists from the Bharatiya Janata Party, who led a protest march against the actress. Dia won the Green Award at IIFA 2012 for spreading awareness about environment-related issues.

Along with these, Mirza has endorsed for The Body Shop for their stand on the ban on animal testing and propagation of recycled packaging and natural products. She is the Eco Ambassador for Panasonic.

Mirza has been felicitated at award functions for her active involvement in social and environmental issues.

Awards

2002

• Winner, Zee Cine Awards for Best Debut: Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein
• Winner, Bollywood movie award for Best Debut Newcomer: Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein
• Nominated, Screen Awards for Most Promising Female Newcomer: Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein
• Nominated, Screen Awards for Most Promising Female Newcomer: Deewaanapan
• Nominated, Popular Award for the Best Debut (Female): Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein

2005

• Winner, Great women achiever award for Beauty

2011

• Winner, Green Globe Honor for Extraordinary Work by a Public Figure
• Winner, Women's Achievement Award

2012

• Winner, The Jaipur International Film Festival for Best Actress award: Paanch Adhyay
• Winner, IIFA Green Award for Contribution Towards a Greener Environment

2013

• Winner, The Sixth Geospa Asiaspa India Awards for Eco Crusader of the Year

Filmography

Year	Film/Album	Role	Notes
2000	Khoya Khoya Chand Song	Herself	Lead Role
2001	Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein	Reena Malhotra	Lead Role Winner, Zee Cine Awards for Best Debut Winner, Bollywood movie award for Best Debut Newcomer Nominated, Screen Awards for Most Promising Female Newcomer Nominated, Popular Award for the Best Debut (Female)
	Deewaanapan	Kiran Choudhary	Lead Role Nominated, Screen Awards for Most Promising Female Newcomer: Deewaanapan
2002	Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge	Muskaan	Lead Role
	Tehzeeb	Nazneen Jamal	Supporting Role
2003	Pran Jaye Par Shaan Na Jaye	Saundarya	Lead Role
	Stop!	Shama	Lead Role
	Dum	Kaveri	Lead Role
2004	Tumsa Nahin Dekha	Jia	Lead Role
	Kyun...! Ho Gaya Na	Preeti	Special Appearance
	Naam Gum Jaayega	Natasha/Gitanjali	Lead Role
	My Brother… Nikhil		Special Appearance
	Blackmail	Mrs. Rathod	Special Appearance
2005	Parineeta	Gayatri	Supporting Role
	Dus	Anu Dheer	Supporting Role
	Koi Mere Dil Mein Hai	Simran	Lead Role
	Fight Club - Members Only	Anu Chopra	Supporting Role
	Phir Hera Pheri		Item number (song)
2006	Alag	Purva Rana	Lead Role
	Lage Raho Munna Bhai	Simran	Supporting Role
	Prateeksha	Reena Brown	Lead Role (TV Release)
2007	Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.	Shilpa	Lead Role
	Shootout at Lokhandwala	Mita Matu	Supporting Role
	Cash	Aditi	Lead Role
	Heyy Babyy	Herself	Special Appearance in a Song
	Om Shanti Om	Herself	Special Appearance
	Dus Kahaniyaan	Sia	Lead Role
2008	Krazzy 4	Shikha	Supporting Role
2009	Kissan	Priya	Lead Role
	Jai Veeru	Anna	Lead Role
	Acid Factory	Max	Lead Role
	Fruit and Nut	Monica Gokhale	Lead Role
	Kurbaan	Rehana (WIACB reporter)	Special Appearance
	Luck By Chance	Herself	Special Appearance
2010	Hum Tum Aur Ghost	Gehna	Lead Role
2011	Love Breakups Zindagi	Naina	Lead Role
2012	Paanch Adhyay	Ishita	Bengali Film Debut Winner, The Jaipur International Film Festival for Best Actress award: Paanch Adhyay
2014	Bobby Jasoos	Herself	Producer of the Film
2015	Familywala	TBA	Lead Role Filming
2016	Hello Mumbai		Main Role ، Production with Iran

[ Source: Wikipedia ]