Vidya Balan was born on 1st January 1978, in a non film background in Palghat situated on the Tamil Nadu and Kerala boarder and belongs to a middle class Iyer community. Her family comprises of her father Mr. P R Balan, the Vice-President of ETC   channel, while her mother is a house maker and her elder Sister is Priya.

When Vidya was quite young, her family shifted to Chembur in Bombay where she completed her schooling from St. Anthonys Convent School and graduated in Sociology from St. Xaviers College. Thereafter she achieved her Masters degree in Sociology from Bombay University.

After being nominated to opt for modelling and movies, her first break into the film industry is with a Malyalam movie Chakram which was shelved and had to wait till 1998 when Vidya made a debut in a Surf Excel commercial. She never turned back after that and appeared in numerous commercials, music videos of Pankaj Udhas and Shubha Mudgal as well as TV serials by Ekta Kapoor and Ashok Pandit.

In 2003 she got a break in a Bengali movie Bhaalo Theko which was successfully completed in 2006 and became a considerable hit. 2006 was the most remarkable year of Vidyas career as a film actress when she won the lead role in Parineeta from Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Her debut film Parineeta fetched her a number of awards including Star Screen Award Most Promising Newcomer-Female, Filmfare Best Debut Award, Zee Cine Award Best Female Debut, IIFA Award Best Female Debut, Stardust Superstar of Tomorrow-Female in the year 2005.

She is also the most talked about Bollywood actress showing her excellent creativity in the leading role in the film Paa in 2009. Having the traditional Indian look Vidya Balan will appear in the recent movies of 2010 such as No One Killed Jessica, Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai and Ishqiya.