Mahima Chaudhary

Mahima Chaudhary (Bengali: মহিমা চুধরী ;born Ritu Chaudhry on 13 September 1973) is an Indian actress and a former model who appears in Bollywood films. She made her acting debut in the 1997 film Pardes for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Female

Chaudhary was born Ritu Chaudhry in Darjeeling, West Bengal. Her father is from Kakripur village in Baghpat, Western Uttar Pradesh. Her mother is a Nepali from Darjeeling. She attended Darjeeling based famous convent school till class X and later moved to Loreto Convent for her plus two levels. She completed her ISC board in 1988. She also attended Loreto College in Darjeeling. She won a local beauty pageant in Darjeeling before moving to Delhi for college. Initially in the 90s, she appeared in TV advertisements (including the Wall's ice cream ad when the brand entered India), and was a VJ on music channels where she was noticed by Subhash Ghai. Ghai gave her a break in the movie Pardes which was released in '97. Ghai also renamed her due to some superstition. He considered M to be lucky for her.

Born	Ritu Chaudhury September 13, 1973 (age 37) Darjeeling, West Bengal, India
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1997–present
Spouse	Bobby Mukherjee (2006–present)