PROFILE

DOB: 18 April, 1962
Star sign: Aries
Birthplace: Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
Occupation: Actress

Achievements:

• Poonam Dhillon is former Femina Miss India and has acted in over 80 films.

• She is best known for her film Noorie, her six films with Rajesh Khanna; Red Rose, Dard, Nishaan, Zamana, Awam and Jai Shiv Shankar, and others such as; Romance, Sohni Mahiwal, Teri Meharbaniyan, Samundar, Saveray Wali Gaadi, Karma, Naam and Maalamaal.

• Poonam was nominated for Filmfare Best Actress Award for Noorie and has won Indian Telly Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Interesting facts:

• The actress comes from an academic family where her father was an aeronautical engineer, her mother was principal in a school, and her two siblings, both doctors. Poonam completed her graduation after joining films.

• The first time she gained fame was when she got crowned Miss Young India 1978 at the age of 16. Director Yash Chopra noticed her and offered her a role in the film Trishul where she performed the song ‘Gapoochi gapoochi gum gum’ with co-star Sachin Pilgaonkar. Chopra then gave her the title role in Noorie (1979).

• Poonam featured in the Hindi theatre production The Perfect Husband, which won the best comedy play award in 2005 and which completed a Golden Jubilee run.

• She also appeared in regional films in Bengali, Kannada and Telugu, and participated in Bigg Boss in 2009 where she was the fourth guest and ended being a runner-up.

• Poonam ventured into the make-up van business, pioneering the concept in the Indian film industry. She runs a make-up van company, VANITY.

• She has been very active with social causes like drug awareness, AIDS awareness, family planning and organ donation.

• Poonam has been a prominent speaker at the SAARC business summit at Kathmandu and Delhi, and was appointed as cultural ambassador.

• Recently, she has also launched an event and film production company, Poetic Justice Films Pvt Ltd.