Freida Pinto

By Ines Mendoza

Jessica Gomes

The film Slumdog Millionaire foisted Freida Pinto into the global lime-light - she played Latika in the film - but before this Oscar-winning tale of rags to riches to something else (I haven't seen it), Ms Pinto was a professional model.

It's not hard to see how Freida Pinto became a fashion model. 

She has a delightful smile and is, in mine and many others opinions, very attractive.

Plying her trade in modelling for several years before moving into television and then acting, there has been much said about Freida's name, particularly in her home country of India.

Ms Pinto says she is a pure Indian, but some of the her countrymen have disputed this fact saying her name sounds Spanish or Portuguese. 

Does it really matter?

Clearly it does to some people, probably the same people who think men and women should be segregated, that a single emperor should rule the world or that cats are good pets.

Freida Pinto was born on October the 18th, in 1984, in the Indian metropolis of Mumbai. 

Baptised as a Catholic, the actress and model went to school at Carmel of St. Joseph School in Malad. 

Unlike what happens int he Western world, Freida was not head hunted by a model scout, but started modeling because her first passion, acting, was out of reach.

She told Complex magazine: "I did a lot of print [modeling] because people found me too skinny in India to do television. 

"We have the voluptuous, full-figured woman thing. People say I need to get a boob job, but I'm just comfortable the way I am," said Freida Pinto.

During her fashion career, which included runway, print and TV modeling, she also studied English Literature at St. Xavier's College in Mumbai and was eventually awarded her Bachelor of Arts degree. Unlike moi, who decided after two semesters that a science degree was pointless and instead lived in Holland for 24 months.

Wanting to be an actress was her main goal in life however, and initially she set her sights on Bollywood - the Indian film industry.

As such, she used her savings to study acting at The Barry John's Acting Studio in Andheri, training which seems to have paid off handsomely. 

Her first feature film, Slumdog Millionaire, went on to win a swag of Academy Awards in 2009, evidence that this girl can act. 

The Slumdog Millionaire gig came after she auditioned, it's as simple as that. 

No bribes, no chance meetings with sleazy producers - just Danny Boyle and his casting crew in a room along with all the other auditioners.

She's since won a Screen Actors Guild award (SAG) for outstanding performance and is a very good dancer, especially the Salsa.

The always lovely Freida Pinto has no criminal convictions (that we know of) and at the time of writing the article she was dating Dev Patel, her co-star from the Slumdog Millionaire feature film.

Freida Pinto is a face to watch out for, going from Slumdog Millionaire to, um, something that rhymes.