Dia Mirza(I)

Dia Mirza was born on 9 December 1981 in Hyderabad in an interracial, German and Bengali family.

Her father Frank Handrich was a German graphic and industrial fair designer, architect, artist and interior designer and her mother Deepa excelled in interior and landscape design. She now volunteers as a counsellor at addiction centres.

As a student of J. Krishnamurti School, Dia learnt early to never conform to the limitations of the conditioned mind. Her education and family values made her world-view naturally inclusive and composite.

The hunger to chase every dream was encouraged at her school and at home.

That is why at the age of 16, while she was still a student, Dia began working towards financial independence. Modelling offers poured in and after endorsing brands like Lipton and Walls Ice Cream, she decided to dive deeper and participate in a beauty pageant that would transform her fate.

The Miss India Contest in 2000 made her a household name and then she won the Miss Asia-Pacific Pageant for India, after a span of nearly 29 long years.

Films were the next natural step. And Dia was ready to study the craft rather than take the opportunities coming her way for granted. Dia began her training as an actor in theatre workshops conducted by acclaimed director Feroz Abbas Khan and made her debut with Vashu Bhagnani's Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein (2001), with Madhavan.

She then went on to appear in several memorable films, including the blockbuster Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), Parineeta (2005), Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007), Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007), Kurbaan (2009), Dus Kahaniyaan (2007), Tehzeeb (2003), Sanju (2018), Thappad (2020) and many more.

In 2012, Dia forayed into regional cinema with Bengali Filmmaker Pratim Dasgupta's festival favourite Paanch Adhyay. In the same year, she also added a new dimension to her cinematic career, by turning producer to form Born Free Entertainment. A production house mirroring her desire to seek the new constantly. 'Love Breakups Zindagi (2011)' and 'Bobby Jasoos (2014)' were produced under this banner.

In 2016, Dia made her debut on Indian television with the much loved show Ganga: The Soul of India where she took viewers on a breath-taking journey to rediscover the holy river and the many stories connected with it.

Her debut on a streaming platform as an actor was in Kaafir, a highly acclaimed 2019 web-series about the Indo-Pak cross border dispute. Critics and audiences were moved and stirred by Dia's award winning portrayal of a young woman's journey from innocence to devastation and then resilience and courage. The series and Dia's work in it continue to win accolades.

On her 38th birthday in 2019, Dia Mirza launched a new production house, One India Stories LLP, which aims to bring out meaningful content across different formats and mediums.

Dia and her hand-picked team plan to collaborate with gifted individuals from different film industries and also have women-led stories as part of the roster.

As an actor and individual, Dia has always believed in the power of one and in the thread of oneness and humanity that connects us all. One India Stories is a culmination of this thought and aims to create stories that remind us of our connection to each other and the planet.

In her career as a performer, and her subsequent work as a producer and a climate change-maker, Dia has made unconventional choices.

Today, she is not just an actor and a producer but a UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador and United Nations Secretary-General Advocate for Sustainable Development Goals.

The search for the unknown, the less familiar continues.