Freida Pinto facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Freida Pinto
Pinto in 2014
Born	Freida Selena Pinto (1984-10-18) 18 October 1984 (age 40) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Alma mater	St. Xavier's College, Mumbai
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2005–present
Spouse(s)	Cory Tran ​ (m. 2020)​
Children	1

Freida Selena Pinto (born 18 October 1984) is a talented Indian actress. She has starred in many films, mostly in America and Britain. Freida grew up in Mumbai, India, and always dreamed of becoming an actress.

She became famous with her very first movie, Slumdog Millionaire (2008). This film helped her win a special award called a SAG Award. She also got nominated for a BAFTA Award. Freida has also been in popular movies like Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and Immortals (2011). Besides acting, she works to help people around the world.

Freida Pinto's Early Life

Freida Pinto was born in Mumbai, India, on 18 October 1984. Her parents, Sylvia and Frederick Pinto, were from Mangalore. Her mother was a school principal, and her father worked at a bank.

Freida grew up in a middle-class family in North Mumbai. She wanted to be an actress from a very young age, even at five years old! She loved to dress up and pretend to be characters from TV. She was inspired by Sushmita Sen, who won the Miss Universe competition in 1994. Freida thought, "One day, I want to do something amazing like that too."

She went to Carmel of St. Joseph School and later to St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. There, she studied English literature, psychology, and economics. In college, she acted in school plays. After graduating in 2005, Freida started a modeling career. She worked for about two and a half years, appearing in many TV and print ads for big brands like Wrigley's, Škoda, and Visa.

Around this time, Freida also started auditioning for movies and TV shows. She hosted a travel show called Full Circle on Zee International Asia Pacific from 2006 to 2008. This show took her to many countries, including Afghanistan and Thailand. She tried out for many roles, even for a Bond girl part, but didn't get them. Freida later said these rejections helped her learn and grow.

Freida's Acting Journey

Becoming a Star with Slumdog Millionaire

Pinto with the crew of Slumdog Millionaire at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

In 2007, Freida's modeling agency suggested her for a role in Danny Boyle's film Slumdog Millionaire. After six months of auditions, she won the part of Latika. Latika was the main character Jamal's love interest, played by Dev Patel.

Before the movie was released, Freida took an acting course. She said that the best acting school for her was the six months of auditions with director Danny Boyle. For her role in Slumdog Millionaire, Freida won the Breakthrough Performance Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. She also shared a SAG Award with the other actors in the film. She was also nominated for a BAFTA Award.

New Roles and Challenges

After Slumdog Millionaire, Freida took on different kinds of movies. In 2010, she was in Woody Allen's comedy-drama You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. She played a mysterious woman who catches the eye of one of the characters. She also starred in Miral (2010), where she played a young Palestinian woman who grew up in a refugee camp. To prepare, Freida visited real refugee camps.

Science Fiction and Drama Films

Pinto had a busy year in 2011 with four new movies. One of them was the science fiction film Rise of the Planet of the Apes. This movie was a new version of the Planet of the Apes series. Freida played Caroline Aranha, a scientist who studies apes. She researched the work of famous anthropologist Jane Goodall for this role. This film became her highest-grossing movie, earning over $481 million worldwide.

Pinto at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival

She also played the main character in Trishna, a drama based on a famous novel. Freida's role was a teenage girl from Rajasthan, India, who leaves her family for work. Critics praised her performance, saying she was "captivating." Later in 2011, she appeared in Day of the Falcon and the fantasy-action film Immortals, where she played a priestess named Phaedra.

After 2011, Freida didn't have new movies for two years. In 2013, she was in a music video for Bruno Mars' song "Gorilla". That same year, she narrated parts of the documentary film Girl Rising. This film was part of a campaign to help girls around the world get an education.

In 2014, Freida starred in Desert Dancer, a true story about an Iranian dancer. She played a character named Elaheh. For this role, Freida trained for eight hours a day, 14 weeks straight, to learn the dance moves.

Recent Projects

In 2015, Freida was in Knight of Cups with many famous actors. She played Helen, a model. She also narrated Unity (2015), a documentary about the connections between all living things on Earth. Her third film that year was Blunt Force Trauma. Freida also worked on Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, a movie based on The Jungle Book, where she played Mowgli's adoptive mother, Messua.

More recently, in 2020, Freida appeared in the Netflix film Hillbilly Elegy. In 2021, it was announced that she would play the lead role in a movie about Noor Inayat Khan, a real-life spy from World War II.

Freida's Charity Work

Freida Pinto is very active in helping others. She cares deeply about empowering women and helping children who are not as lucky. She has said that Angelina Jolie and Malala Yousafzai are big inspirations for her.

In 2010, Freida supported the Agassi Foundation, started by tennis stars Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. She helped raise $75,000 to provide education for children in need. In 2012, she became a global ambassador for Plan International's "Because I am a Girl" campaign. This campaign works to promote gender equality and help millions of girls escape poverty.

In 2013, Freida was part of Gucci's "Chime for Change" campaign. This campaign raises money and awareness for women's issues in education, health, and justice. In 2014, she spoke at a "Girls' rights summit" in London. She asked for more progress to end harmful practices like child marriage. In 2016, Freida announced she would be part of "We Do It Together," a group that helps fund movies and TV shows focused on women's empowerment.

Freida's Personal Life

Before her acting career, Freida was engaged to Rohan Antao. They broke up in 2009. She then started dating her Slumdog Millionaire co-star, Dev Patel. They were together for six years before separating in 2014.

In November 2019, Freida got engaged to photographer Cory Tran. They got married in 2020. In November 2021, they welcomed their son, Rumi-Ray. Freida now lives in Los Angeles, USA.

Freida Pinto's Films

Key

Denotes upcoming films

Freida Pinto's TV Shows

Music Videos

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Freida Pinto para niños