Terry Gould

Bipasha Basu is a prominent Bollywood actress and former model born on January 7, 1979, in New Delhi, India. She is of Bengali Hindu descent. She is the second of three daughters in her family, with older sister Bidisha and younger sister Vijayeta. Though born in New Delhi, her family later moved to Kolkata. She initially planned to study medicine, but entered modeling by accident. Basu completed her schooling up to 12th standard at Bhavans Gangabux Kanoria Vidyamandir and then pursued a commerce education at Bhawanipur Gujarati Education Society College, an affiliated undergraduate college of the University of Calcutta. In Kolkata, she did part-time modeling and ramp shows. In 1996, she met the renowned Kolkata model Mehr Jessia, who encouraged Basu to participate in the Godrej Cinthol Supermodel contest, which she won.