Dia Mirza

Dia Mirza (born as Dia Handrich on 9 December 1981) is an Indian model, actress and producer, who won the 2000 Miss Asia Pacific International title. Mirza has primarily worked in Bollywood, and is known in media for her social work. She co-owns a production house Born Free Entertainment along with Sahil Sangha. Their first film, Love Breakups Zindagi, made under the banner was released on 7 October 2011.

Personal life and education

Dia Mirza grace Kallista Spa opening January, 2014

Dia Mirza was born in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Her father, Frank Handrich, was a German graphic and industrial fair designer, architect, artist and interior designer from Munich and 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. Whether she is a Muslim or not carries ambiguity. She adopted her mother's surname and has recently adopted the last name of her birth-father, becoming Dia Mirza Handrich.

When living in Khairatabad, Hyderabad district, 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 Bachelors of Arts from Andhra Pradesh Open University, Hyderabad. In April 2014, she got engaged to her long time Business Partner Sahil Sangha. Dia and Sahil will get married on 28 October 2014.

Biography

Dia Mirza worked when still in college as a Marketing executive for a media firm. At the same time she modeled for print and TV commercials for brands like Lipton, Walls Ice Cream, Emami and many more. She won Miss Asia Pacific in the year 2000. She debuted through 'Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein' which could not do well at Box Office. Then she appeared in various movies like 'Dum', 'Deewanapan', 'Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge', 'Tumsa Nahin Dekha - A Love Story', 'Parineeta', 'Dus', 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' etc. She did not see much success as an Actress. But she has garnered a lot of praise for her social work. She has also got an IIFA 2012 Green Award for her contribution towards green environment. She has done various awareness campaigns on prevention of female feticide, HIV awareness, the Cancer Patients Aid Association, PETA, ADAPT, CRY. She also publicly supported the Naramada Bachao Andolan. She has also written articles for Hindustan Times and other publications.

Dia started working at the age of 16 years while continuing her college education. She worked as a marketing executive in a multi-media firm called Dr. Neeraj's Multi media studio. She simultaneously modelled for the print and television advertisement campaigns of various brands such as Walls, Lipton, Emami etc. Mirza wanted to complete her graduation in Arts by correspondence, but decided to postpone it as it was becoming difficult to juggle between the Miss Asia Pacific competition, modeling assignments, travelling and training. She could not complete her graduation due to being busy at work.

Dia is going to marry Sahil Sangha on 18 October 2014 at Delhi.

Film career

Dia Mirza made her cinematic debut with Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein opposite R. Madhavan, which is still remembered as one of the most romantic movies of all time. Later, she appeared in Parineeta, a Vidhu Vinod Chopra production. After her acting skills bagged limelight, she became a part of some of the biggest blockbusters. 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 also selected by various Film Festivals within India and across the world.

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

Titles

Miss Asia Pacific

Dia Mirza at the IIFA Rocks fashion show

Dia Mirza was a second runner up at Femina Miss India, 2000 and was subsequently sent to Miss Asia Pacific, where she won. When she won the Miss Asia Pacific title on 3 December 2000 in Manila, Philippines, she became the first Indian contestant 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. The win came to her as a golden opportunity and opened the doors of Bollywood for her.

Community services

Dia 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 theater. She has written several articles for the Hindustan Times and various other publications as a guest writer. She is on the board of the Coca Cola foundation that works towards development in rural India. She recently adopted two cheetah cubs at the Prince of Wales zoological park in Lucknow.

Activism

Dia Mirza has been actively involved in addressing social issues and has been a part of various campaigns. The actress is an active member of Cancer Patients Aid Association, PETA, Child Rights and You (CRY), ADAPT, Greenpeace India, and the Coca Cola foundation. She is also associated with campaigns such as Sanctuary Asia's Leave Me Alone and Female Foeticide.

Dia 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 also 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. Also, she is the Eco Ambassador for Panasonic. Dia Mirza has been facilitated at various award functions for her active involvement in the Social and Environmental Issues

Galleries of Dia Mirza