Sinha was born on 2 June 1987 in Patna into a Bihari Kayastha family. Her father, Shatrughan Sinha and her mother Poonam Sinha (née Chandiramani) are actors in Hindi Cinema. Her father is now a political member of Bharatiya Janata Party.[6][7] She is the youngest of three children, her two elder brothers, Luv Sinha and Kush Sinha are twin. She did her schooling at Arya Vidya Mandir and later graduated in fashion designing from Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University.[8]
Career
Sinha started her career as a costume designer, designing the costumes for films like Mera Dil Leke Dekho in 2005.[9] She made her acting debut in the 2010 film Dabangg, in which she starred opposite Salman Khan. It went on to become the highest-grossing film of 2010 and ultimately emerged as an all-time blockbuster.[10][11] Sinha had to lose 30 kg in preparation for the role as a village girl.[12] Her performance was well received, with noted critic Taran Adarsh noting that "Sonakshi Sinha looks fresh, acts confidently and pairs off very well with Salman. Most importantly, she delivers the right expressions and is not overpowered by the galaxy of stars in the cast."[13] Although Sinha had no film releases in 2011, she won awards for her debut. This included the Filmfare Award as well as the IIFA Awards among many others.
Sinha had four releases in 2012, her first being Prabhu Deva's Rowdy Rathore, opposite Akshay Kumar. The film opened to mixed reviews from critics,[14] although it had a strong opening at the box office,[15] collecting approx. ₹150.6 million (US$2.3 million) on the first day and eventually became a blockbuster.[16]
