Shraddha Kapoor: Dancing Away to Glory@26

Actress Shraddha Kapoor has carved a niche for herself in Bollywood in a short span of time. Apart from acting well, she stunned the audience with her singing talent as well. As the multi-talented actress turns 26 today, we take a pictorial look at her journey so far.

Shraddha, the daughter of actor Shakti Kapoor and Shivangi Kolhapure, was born in Mumbai. She completed her schooling from Jamnabai Narsee School and later joined the American School of Bombay. Shraddha's family includes many talented actors including her two aunts Padmini and Tejaswini Kolhapure as well as older brother Siddhanth Kapoor.

Shraddha made her Bollywood debut in 2010 with Teen Patti, after being spotted by producer Ambika Hinduja on Facebook.

She starred with Amitabh Bachchan, Ben Kingsley and R Madhavan in the film. Shradhha was appreciated for her role of a college girl in the film and also won a Filmfare nomination for Best Female Debut but Teen Patti failed to create a mark at the box office.

In 2011, Shraddha played the female lead in Luv Ka The End, a film inspired by the Hollywood movie John Tucker Must Die. The film failed to succeed at the box office but Shraddha was much appreciated by the critics.

Shraddha took Bollywood by storm with Mohit Suri's romantic film Aashiqui 2 in 2013, a sequel of sorts to the 1990 blockbuster hit Aashiqui. History repeated itself and Aashiqui 2 was a blockbuster hit. Shraddha received several nominations in the Best Actress category, including one at the Filmfare Awards for her role of a small-town singer Aarohi Keshav Shirke, who rises to be a successful playback singer in the film industry. Film critic Anupama Chopra called Shraddha a "real triumph".

She was also seen in a special appearance in Kareena Kapoor and Imran Khan's Gori Tere Pyaar Mein the same year. Shraddha played the role of Imran's fiancee in the film.

Shraddha reunited with director Mohit Suri for Ek Villain in 2014. She played actor Sidharth Malhotra's terminally-ill wife, murdered by a serial killer in the film. Ek Villain won both commercial success and critical acclaim.

Shraddha also made her singing debut with song Galliyan from Ek Villain, for which she won the 'Best Celebrity Singer' GiMA award.

She was next seen as a journalist in director Vishal Bhardwaj's Haider, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Shraddha played the female lead opposite actor Shahid Kapoor in the film. Shraddha was hailed by the critics for convincingly portraying varied nuances of her character in the film.

Shraddha was also seen grooving to the item number Dance Basanti in Kangana Ranaut and Emraan Hashmi's Ungli in 2014.

Shradhha will next be seen in Remo D'Souza's dance film ABCD 2, the sequel to 2013's ABCD: Any Body Can Dance. She will be seen performing various dance forms like B-boying and hip-hop in the film with actor Varun Dhawan. ABCD 2 is set to release in June.

This image was posted on Instagram by Remo D'Souza.

Here's wishing Shraddha a very happy birthday.