Isha Koppikar

Her career started off with modeling. She was in school when she saw a dream portfolio. It was that of the daughter of her mom’s colleague. She looked very glamorous. Isha decided that’s she wanted to look like the girl in the portfolio. “I used to wear braces in school,”she reveals. “When I finished school, I got my braces off and went to Gautam Rajyadhyaksha to get my pictures done. He encouraged me saying he thought I had a cosmetic face and would do well in cosmetics. He gave me a contact sheet of agencies where I could go and drop my pictures. My first ad was Le Sancy soap. Then I went on to doing Tips and toes. Camay, Ponds, Rexona.” The story of Isha Koppikar begins.

Films happened to her when a filmmaker from the south came looking for a heroine. He’d seen Isha in a music video she’d done for T-series. She accepted his [K S Ravi] film in the south. It had Arvind Swamy as hero and AR Rahman as composer. The film did well and she started getting lots of offers. As if that wasn’t enough she bagged Filmfare’s best new comer of the year award for a film Kaathal Kavithai [ A love poem]. A film that resembled the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan starrer You’ve got mail. “I did quite a few south films - I was there for three years. In Telugu I did Chandralekha, In Tamil I did En swasa katre, Suryavansham in Kannada, and Nenjanile in Tamil.”She recounts.

Isha had been part of the Miss India brigade a few years back when she came among the first six. It was then that she received the Filmfare award. “I knew the Timesgroup and Khalid Mohammad who was then making Fiza and he offered me a role in it. Honestly, I wanted to be a leading lady and didn’t want to do these side roles. But my father is a doctor, my granny a principal. Dad wanted me to go for medicine but I didn’t score enough. There was nobody to launch me, there was a lot of monopoly those days, camps and favourites etc. It’s now that new faces are accepted more easily. Earlier people wanted brand names, top actresses,” she gives the reason behind accepting a small part in Fiza.In Fiza she plays the heroine's friends role. But her 'khallas' number in Company turned all attention to her. Following that film offers poured in and she did several films like Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat, Aamdani Athani Kharcha Rupaiya, Rudraksh, Qayamat and did another sizzler in 'Kaante'. From there, there was no turning back.

Date of Birth : 19 September 1976

As Artiste

Shabari (2010)
Right Yaaa Wrong (2010)
Haseena - Smart, Sexy, Dangerous (2009)
Hello Darling (2009)
Har Pal (2009)
Raakh (2009)
Mujhe Rang De (2009)
Ek Vivaah... Aisa Bhi (2008)
Hello (2008)
Money Hai Toh Honey Hai (2008)
Gahraee (2007)
Darling (2007)
Don (2006)
12' O Clock (2005)
Haseena (2005)
Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya? (2005)
D (2005)
Kyaa Kool Hai Hum (2005)
Ek Se Badhkar Ek (2004)
Girlfriend (2004)
Krishna Cottage (2004)
Rudraksh (2004)
LOC - Kargil (2003)
Pinjar (2003)
Darna Mana Hai (2003)
Qayamat (2003)
Kasam Se (2002)
Dil Ka Rishta (2002)
Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiya (2001)
Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat (2001)
Fiza (2000)

As Guest Appearance

Hum Tum (2004)
Company (2002)

As Special Appearance

36 China Town (2006)
Kaante (2002)