Vidya Balan Height, Weight, Age, Facts, Biography

Vidya Balan is an Indian actress who is primarily known for her choice of roles she portrays fondly called the female hero in the male-centric movie industry. Her journey to fame has not been easy, she had her share of struggles. From being labeled jinx to being replaced multiple times to auditioning numerous times for the same role, Vidya has tasted all. Though Vidya made her debut in a Tamil movie, her debut in Hindi cinema got her the critic’s attention, and was praised for that.

Vidya has created a class of her own and is a role model for women in general who had shown to the world that to be accepted, one doesn’t have to fit into the established norms. With unusual roles, she has bagged the Best Actress award for most of her movies and even earned the Padma Shri award in 2014. Even after her marriage to the UTV CEO, Siddhartha Roy Kapur, she continued working at her own pace and ventured into production too with the short movie Natkhat (2019) on gender equality.

Born Name

Vidya Balan

Nick Name

Vidhi, V

Sun Sign

Capricorn

Born Place

Chembur, Mumbai, India

Nationality

Education

Vidya Balan did her schooling at St. Anthony Girls’ High School, Chembur, Mumbai, where Shilpa Shetty was her senior by 3 years. She later attended St. Xavier’s College where she majored in Sociology. She went on to study MA at the University of Mumbai, where she received her first film offer.

Occupation

Actress

Family

• Father – P. R. Balan (Executive Vice-President of Digicable)
• Mother – Saraswathy Balan (Homemaker)
• Siblings – Priya Balan (Older Sister) (Works in the advertising field)
• Others – Priyamani (Second Cousin) (Actress)

Manager

Bling Entertainment Solutions

Build

Average

Height

5 ft 3 in or 160 cm

Weight

57 kg or 126 pounds

Boyfriend / Spouse

1. Shahid Kapoor (2008) – As the tabloid suggested, they dated each other while shooting for the movie Kismat Konnection, but both strongly denied it. Vidya walked out of the relationship because she felt she was now and then criticized for her weight and felt disrespected.
2. Siddharth Roy Kapur (2012-Present) – Vidya Balan herself told in an interview in May 2012 that she has been dating Siddharth Roy Kapur (CEO at UTV Motion Pictures). She married him on December 14, 2012, in a private ceremony in Bandra, Mumbai.

Race / Ethnicity

Asian (Indian)

She has Tamilian ancestry.

Hair Color

Black

Eye Color

Black

Sexual Orientation

Straight

Distinctive Features

Voice

Measurements

36-28-37 inches after her role in “Dirty Picture”, as she had to gain 12 kilos for her role as “Silk”.

Brand Endorsements

She has been seen in commercials about a surf, Clinic Plus shampoo, UNICEF Total Sanitation, etc.

Vidya has endorsed Samajwadi Pension Yojana (launched by Akhilesh Yadav led Uttar Pradesh Government), Nihar Hair Oils, Indian Film Festival, Silk Board, etc.

She endorsed the ‘World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour’ campaign in March 2011.

In 2023, she was announced as the brand ambassador of the Indian ethnic wear brand Shobitam.

Religion

Hinduism

Best Known For

Her traditional Indian Look and her work in Hindi movies, especially “Parineeta”, “The Dirty Picture”, “Kahaani”.

First Film

Bengali Film “Bhalo Theko”, for her role as “Anandi” in 2003. She got famous through her next film, which was the Hindi film “Parineeta” in 2005 and performed the role of “Lalita” and for this, she got “Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut”

Vidya Balan Favorite Things

• Favorite Film – Before Sunrise, Before Sunset
• Favorite Director – Gulzar and Hrishikesh Mukherjee
• Favorite Actors – Morgan Freeman, Amitabh Bachchan, Al Pacino
• Favorite Actress – Kate Winslet, Julie Delpy, and Julia Roberts
• Favorite Book – Brida by Paulo Coelho
• Favorite Food – Thai Cuisine and Homemade food
• Role Model – Her older sister, Priya
• Favorite Musician / Band – Zakir Hussain, Michael Jackson, Enrique, Indian Ocean, Midival Punditz

Vidya Balan Facts

1. Vidya Balan’s older sister, Priya is married to Kedar.
2. Vidya Balan also involves herself in AIDS Institute at Harvard by participating in events throughout the year.
3. Vidya is also associated with “AmFar” (American For AIDS Research) and Hale House, a home for children affected by HIV and Drug Addiction.
4. Vidya Balan had to go for 40 Screen Tests and 17 Make-Up shoots before getting selected for a lead role in the movie Parineeta.
5. Vidya before being praised for her traditional attire had faced a lot of criticism for her selection of western outfits she wore in the movies like Hey Babby & Kismat Konnection.
6. Vidya Balan has also acted in the TV show Hum Paanch produced by Ekta Kapoor and Hanse Khelte produced by Ashok Pandit.
7. She is well-versed in English, Hindi, Malayalam, and Tamil languages and can speak a little bit of Bengali.
8. The Calcutta Chamber of Commerce honored Vidya with ‘The Prabha Khaitan Puraskar’ 2012 for her extraordinary efforts to empower women.
9. She was made a member of the Indian ‘Central Board of Film Certification’ in 2017.
10. In an interview with a famous entertainment channel, she said that she was rejected many times in Malayalam movies as the producers didn’t find her looks presentable, gradually making her feel ugly.
11. Vidya shared a funny incident where she got a legal notice from a Tamil movie producer. She said the movie had downmarket humor which she could not take and thus decided to leave just after a few days of the shoot.
12. Amazon Prime’s The Family Man fame Priyamani who played Suchi in the web series is a distant cousin of Vidya.
13. During the 67th Filmfare Awards held in 2022, Vidya Balan won the Best Actress (Critics) award for the film Sherni.
14. She has not faced the problem of the ‘casting couch’, but once she had an uncomfortable experience wherein she was asked by a film director to meet him in his hotel room. She went there but intentionally kept the hotel room’s door open. As a result, she was removed from that film.
15. She once was challenged by the Indian Music Group (she was a volunteer there) to pretend like a beggar outside a 5-star hotel named Oberoi – The Palms in Mumbai. She asked for food which the hotel denied.
16. While at St Anthony’s Girls High School in Chembur, Shilpa Shetty taught Balan how to play basketball.
17. Overall, Vidya spent 31 years of her life in Chembur, Mumbai.