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"All people - African, European, American - worry about being different. But I've learned that the traits we'd rush to get rid of are the very ones that others desire. People always covet what they don't have. That's why we should look at ourselves every now and then and say, 'I'm proud of myself. I like the way I'm made.'" Freida Pinto should be proud of herself, and she has every reason to be. From her childhood interest in acting and theater to the name she's made for herself with movies like Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Pinto has shown she's serious about her life and values the things that make her unique. But where did she get started, and what's next for her to conquer? Here's all you need to know about the talented actress and model.

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Growing Up with an Interest in Theater

Pinto was born in Mumbai, India. Her mother was a school principal and her father was a senior branch manager for a bank. Her sister works at a TV station. While Pinto wanted to be an actress since she was five, she had a basic, middle-class upbringing that didn't involve being a child actress. She would dress up as a child and play roles, imitating actresses she had seen on TV or in the movies, as well as on stage. She attended school in Malad, and then went to college in Mumbai. Majoring in English Literature, she minored in both economics and psychology. Pinto was involved in amateur theater in college, but she turned down any modeling or acting offers because she wanted to finish her schooling. After graduation, she could take on entertainment roles that interested her.

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Even though she really wanted a career in acting, she found herself undecided as to whether she would pursue it or not. She knew it wasn't an easy road, and that there are many pitfalls along the way. But in 2003, after she saw Monster, she decided that she would have to find a way to become an actress. With her mind made up, she started a modeling career in 2005 after graduating from college. She worked with Elite Model Management India, and did both print advertisements and television commercials. She started auditioning for TV shows and films around that same time, and was chosen in 2006 to host an international travel show called Full Circle. That job ran until 2008.

Gaining Traction in the Acting World

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Pinto knows that every role is different, and what worked for one character may not work for another. She has said, "I guess confidence is the only thing that I take from project to project, but I'm always open to learning everybody's style - the director, the actor I'm working with." That confidence has worked well for her, and she's carried it from her travel show hosting job to auditions for both Hollywood and Bollywood films. She even auditioned to be a Bond girl in Quantum of Solace (2008), but was rejected. But she claims that getting rejected made her better and stronger, because she faced it and was able to get through it. If she was rejected from enough auditions, she was sure she got that much closer to the one that would be right for her.

It turned out that "one" would be 2008's Slumdog Millionaire. Her modeling agency sent her and six other models to audition for the movie, at the casting director's request. Auditions went on for months, and were very grueling. But, in the end, Pinto won the part of the main female character. After the movie was over she attended an acting course so she could learn and get better at the technical aspects, but she has said that there's nothing that compares with actually playing a role. She learned more in the six months of auditioning for the movie than she did from the acting course she took when the movie had finished filming. That movie turned out to be an unexpected hit, and Pinto was thrust into the spotlight.

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Since that time, she's been involved in several other movies. The most notable of those films was Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), which did extremely well at the box office. But Pinto is more than just a pretty face and a talented actress. She's also a humanitarian who cares deeply about a number of causes that are important to her. She believes in equality between men and women, and has worked to uplift underprivileged children and women who are struggling. As she continues to work for the rights of women and girls around the world and throughout India, it's likely that Pinto hasn't seen her last major role on the big screen just yet. Fans can expect more from her in the coming years, and can enjoy her performances once again.