Happy Birthday Preity Zinta: These drool-worthy pics of the dimpled beauty will steal your hearts

90s Kids’ and youth will not forget the captivating moments of Preity Zinta flashing her dimpled smile and shaking her gorgeous belly under a waterfall for a popular soap advertisement. Hailing from the capital city of Shimla, the beautiful actress climbed the ladder of success in the showbiz world with no godfather from the film fraternity. Due to unexpected circumstances in her personal space, she had to face the reality of life at a very young age which forced her to mature mentally. Raised as a tomboy from childhood, Preity Zinta completed both her graduation and PG before venturing into modelling.

After portraying a 20-minute role in Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Dil Se’, the dimpled beauty played the leading lady opposite Venkatesh and Mahesh Babu in ‘Premante Idera’ and ‘Raja Kumarudu’. Shifting her focus towards Hindi cinema, she established as one among the leading heroines in the 2000s by playing both glamour and content roles effectively. All set to be a part of the American prime-time show, Fresh Off The Boat, Preity is celebrating her 45th birthday today (January 31). Scroll down for some of her captivating photos.

When Preity was 13 years old, tragedy struck her family as her father died in a road accident which also involved her mother, who was severely injured and consequently bedridden for two years. Admitting the incident as a significant turning point in her life, the leggy lass became a more matured individual from then on and started to focus on her studies. Upon completion of her higher education from a popular boarding school, she did her graduation in English honours and earned a postgraduate degree in Criminal Phycology. In 2010, the ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ actress was conferred with the honorary doctorate by a UK-based university for her outstanding contributions to cinema and her tireless work as a humanitarian.

Preity Zinta is always known for her straightforward nature, utmost honesty and speaking her mind out. She was honoured with Godfrey's Mind of Steel Award in 2003 for her daring act in the threatening case involving Bollywood producer and diamond merchant Bharat Shah. She received the award for testifying against the underworld when superstars like Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan retracted from their statements. She was the only witness who didn't turn hostile to the prosecution in court.

Besides films, the ‘Veer-Zaara’ actress has penned down a series of columns for BBC News Online South Asia. She happens to be the founder of a production company, a co-owner of the IPL cricket team Kings XI Punjab, and the owner of the South-African T20 Global League cricket team Stellenbosch Kings. During the peak of her film career, she went to the United States and pursued a short executive course in negotiating and deal-making at the Harvard Business School. When Preity’s godfather Shandar Amrohi passed away in 2011, she received a massive sum of approx. Rs. 600 Crore as inheritance. But she didn’t accept the money.

On her 34th birthday, Preity Zinta adopted 34 girls from the Mother Miracle orphanage in Rishikesh and took the responsibility of sponsoring their education, food and clothing. She is involved with various charitable organisations and has particularly supported women causes in India like protesting against female infanticide. She narrowly escaped death on two occasions in 2014; after an explosion at a concert in Colombo where she was attending and when Tsunami struck Thailand where she was vacationing. In March 2016, she took to social media and announced her marriage with her long-time American partner Gene Goodenough in Los Angeles. The latter is the Senior Vice-President for Finance at a US-based hydroelectric power company.

Bollywood actors Preity Zinta and Vir Das are teaming up for an episode in the American prime-time show, Fresh Off The Boat, which will be aired on January 24. The episode featuring Preity Zinta and Vir Das may serve as the foundation for a spin-off series centred on an Indian family in the US, tentatively titled Magic Motor Inn. In the much-loved show that focuses on a Taiwanese family residing in the US, Preity and Vir will be seen as an Indian couple.