Personal details
- Birth Date: 1987-03-23
- Height: 5′ 5½″ (1.66 m)
- Birth Location: Bhambla, Himachal Pradesh, India
- Parents: Asha Ranaut
- Professions: Actress, Director, Producer
Kangana Ranaut popped into the world on 23 March 1987, way up in Bhambla, a tiny spot near Manali in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district. Her dad, Amardeep, does the business thing, and her mom, Asha, wrangles kids as a schoolteacher. Kangana’s got siblings—a couple of sisters, plus a younger brother. Oh, and her granddad? Dude was an IAS officer. No pressure, right? Childhood was split between Dehra Dun and DAV’s High School, where she was the kid who actually liked debates and elocution (nerd alert), and she was apparently decent at basketball too. After high school, she headed off to Science College in Simla. Somewhere along the way, modeling lured her in, so she signed up at the Elite School of Modeling. Delhi sucked her into theater too, joining the Smita Theater Group with Arvind Gaur calling the shots. And to round it all off, she learned Kathak dancing because why not collect skills like Pokémon? Eventually, Mumbai called—well, more like she packed her bags and landed in a flat on Yari Road, Versova, chasing big-screen dreams. Then, totally random, she’s sipping coffee in a café when Anurag Basu spots her. Next thing you know, he signs her for a lead role in Gangster (2006). Boom, Bollywood launched. Since then, Kangana’s bagged four National Awards. She crushed it in Fashion (2008), Queen (2014), Tanu Weds Manu Returns (2015), Manikarnika (2019), and Panga (2019). Not exactly what you’d call “quietly successful.”
Kangana Ranaut didn’t just act in Queen (2014)—she practically hijacked the script. She insisted on shaping her own dialogues, telling director Vikas Bahl she wanted to do things her way, not just read lines like a robot. So, she improvised a ton during filming. And honestly? It worked like magic. Critics couldn’t stop raving about her performance. It was one of those rare moments in Bollywood where everyone actually agreed on something: she absolutely nailed it. The awards started rolling in—she basically cleaned up, bagging Best Actress everywhere from Filmfare to the National Awards. Queen didn’t just put Kangana on the map; it made her the map. It’s wild how her personal touch and guts to rewrite her own role turned a simple story into a total game-changer for her career. Not every actor gets away with that, but she did, and then some.
referencennSo I grew up in Himachal Pradesh, did the usual science track, and for a hot minute, I swore I’d be a doctor. Turns out, science doesn’t offer as many doors as everyone claims—unless you’re really into staring at beakers for the rest of your life. Ended up packing my bags and landing in Delhi. That’s when I stumbled into theater, joined this group called Ashmita, and actually got to perform in a couple of plays—Madhavi and Rakht Kalyan. Still, my brain was a mess, zero clue what to stick with long-term. Started sending my photos to ad agencies, because hey, maybe modeling would be fun? Things got wild enough that I even enrolled in French classes. Why? I thought, why not Paris? Big dreams, big city, and let’s be honest—Paris is where models can really make it.
March 23, 1987
5′ 5½″ (1.66 m)
Konidela Ram Charan
Bhambla, Himachal Pradesh, India
Asha Ranaut and Surekha
38 years old