Lovely Lara Dutta is 35

Actress, entrepreneur and one of Bollywood's yummiest mummies, Lara Dutta has played many roles since the time she was crowned Miss Universe in 2000. The actress had taken a sabbatical post the birth of her daughter Saira, and returned to Bollywood this year in Bejoy Nambiar's film David.

As she turns 35 today, here is a look at Lara's journey so far.

Lara Dutta was born to a Punjabi family in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Her father is a retired Air Force officer and one of her two sisters also serves in the Air Force. Musician Nitin Sawhney is Lara's cousin. The Dutta family moved to Bangalore in 1981 where Lara went to St Francis Xavier Girls' High School. She graduated in economics from University of Mumbai.

Lara won the annual Gladrags modelling competition and then became the first Indian representative at the 1997 Miss Intercontinental pageant and won the title.

At Miss Universe 2000 in Cyprus, Lara was the clear favourite ahead of fierce competition from Venezuela, Spain, USA and Canada.

She was the highest scorer in the swimsuit round, and her final interview answer – in which she delivered a passionate defence of beauty pageants – fetched her a near-perfect score of 9.99, the highest ever.

Beauty queens Priyanka and Dia also won their pageants the same year.

In 2002, Lara signed up for her first film, the Tamil language Arasatchi, but it only released in mid-2004 because of financial problems.

Lara made her Bollywood debut in 2003 with the hit film Andaaz, opposite Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra. Her performance won her the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award.

Lara's many films have been a mixed bag of hits and flops. Her hit parade includes Masti (2004), Kaal (2005), No Entry (2005), Bhaagam Bhaag and (2007).