Sophie Choudry (born 8 February 1982) is a British singer and actress based in India. She has been active primarily in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

-language films and is also a former

MTV India MTV India is an Indian pay television channel specialising in music, reality and youth culture programming. It was launched in 1996 as the Indian version of MTV and is owned by Viacom 18, a joint venture operation between MTV International owne ...

VJ and occasional model, and television presenter.

Early life

Sophie Choudry was born and brought up in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Her father was a major fan of

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...

and hence her birthname is "Sophia", however she now goes by the name "Sophie". She has an elder brother. Choudry studied at

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

, graduating in

European politics The politics of Europe deals with the continually evolving politics within the continent of Europe. It is a topic far more detailed than other continents due to a number of factors including the long history of nation states in the region as ...

and French and is also a gold medalist from the

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. It is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. LAMDA's Principal is ...

. Furthermore, she studied for nearly two years at the "Sciences Po" in Paris, France. BollySpice reports, that while still studying, Choudry became a VJ for Zee UK. She took a few classes in Indian classical dance as

Bharatnatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...

, which she learnt in London for four years as well as Western dances like

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: A ...

. She is also well trained in

Western classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

, which she learnt for three years in the UK from Helena Shenel, as well as in

Indian classical music Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...

, which she learnt from Pandit Ashkaran Sharma.

Career

She began her career on Zee Tv UK in the late 1990s presenting Zee Top 10, a chart show also based in the UK/ Europe which became the number 1 show on the channel for several years before she launched her own career in Music.

Music

Choudry began her singing career. When she was 12 years old, her talent was discovered by noted music director

Biddu Biddu Appaiah (born 8 February 1944) is a British-Indian singer-songwriter, composer, and music producer who composed and produced many worldwide hit records during a career spanning five decades. Considered one of the pioneers of disco, Euro d ...

, who launched her musical career. She, at first, lent her voice as a

backup singer A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

to playback singers like

Shweta Shetty Shweta Shetty (also known as Shwetaa in nickname) is an Indian pop singer known for her albums and for her contributions to Bollywood film soundtracks. Her most remix hit song is "Q-Funk" from the album ''Oorja'' in 1995. Life and career Shett ...

and

Alisha Chinai Alisha Chinai (born 18 March 1965) is an Indian pop singer known for her Indi-pop albums as well as Music of Bollywood, playback singing in Hindi cinema. She began her singing career with the album ''Jadoo'' in 1985, and by the 1990s she had bec ...

. In 2000, Choudry started her career as a pop singer with her

all-female band An all-female band is a musical group in popular music that is exclusively composed of female musicians. This is distinct from a girl group, in which the female members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed. While ...

"Sansara" with a song which Choudry herself wrote ("Yeh Dil Sun Raha Hai"). After their second hit “Habibi” the band separated and Choudry started her solo singing career, donning the videos "Habibi" and "Le Le Mera Dil" in 2002. Her latest single 'Aaj Naiyo Sauna' Choudry then moved to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

in 2003, becoming a VJ for

and hosting the popular show ''MTV Loveline'', which eventually gained her popularity. Less than one year on, Sophie returned with her newest offering, “Baby Love”. According to Choudry, she listened to over 400 songs to come up with her perfect 12. Songs on this album include "Ek Pardesi Mera Dil Le Gaya", "Jadugar Saiyaan", "Zuby Zuby", "Dil Ke Armaan", "Ghar Aaya Mera Pardesi", and "Bachke Rehna Re Baba". In December 2009, Choudry launched her album '' Sound of Sophie'', which had no remixes, but only original numbers. The launch of this album marked her association with the

Indian fashion India is a country with an ancient clothing design tradition, yet an emerging fashion industry. Though a handful of designers existed prior to the 1980s, the late 1980s and the 1990s saw a spurt of growth. This was the result of increasing exposu ...

bran
MADAME
who hired her as their first

brand ambassador A brand ambassador (sometimes also called a corporate ambassador) is a person engaged by an organization or company to represent its brand in a positive light, helping to increase brand awareness and sales. The brand ambassador is meant to embod ...

. She worked with well-known music composers such as

Rishi Rich Rishpal Singh Rekhi ( Punjabi: ਰਿਸ਼ਪਾਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਰੈਖੀ, born 30 June 1976 in Croydon), better known by his stage name Rishi Rich, is a British-Indian music producer based in London. He began his career in the Asian Under ...

Bappi Lahiri Bappi Aparesh Lahiri (born Alokesh Aparesh Lahiri; 27 November 1952 – 15 February 2022), also known as Bappi Da was an Indian singer, composer and record producer. He popularised the use of synthesised disco music in Indian music industry and ...

, Biddu and Gaurav Das Gupta in the album. Choudry has also participated in ''Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa'', Season 7.

Movies

After the huge success of her babylove album, Sophie was launched by David Dhawan and Vadhu Bhagnani in “shaadi no1” costarring Sanjay dutt, Fardeen Khan and Zayed khan. Her next release was the new age “Pyar ke side effects” with Mallika Sherawat and rahul Bose which went on to become a runaway hit! Her role as “baby girl volume 3 “ was loved by all. She soon signed speed with Vikram Bhatt, alibaug with Sanjay Gupta and daddy cool with Inder kumar. But it was her song “aala re aala” in shootout at Wadala with John Abraham that went on to become a big hit. Followed by her special role in once upon a time in mumbai doobara with Akshay kumar. She was last seen on the big screen with mahesh babu in Sukumar’s “1 nenokkadine.”

Other ventures

In December 2017 she launched a wellness company called Lifetox with her partners. They developed a fitness ayurvedic tea called Fittox and more products including Lifetox vitamins since then.

Filmography

Sophie Choudry at Blackberry curve's launch party (2)

* ''All films are in Hindi unless otherwise noted.''

TV appearances

*2014 ''

Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 7 Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 7 is the seventh season of the dance reality show, ''Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa''. It premiered on 7 June 2014 on Colors. The series was hosted by Ranvir Shorey and Drashti Dhami but later got replaced by Manish Paul. Madhuri Dixit, Ka ...

'' as contestant - Eliminated 12 week - 31 August 2014 *2014 ''

Bigg Boss 8 ''Bigg Boss 8'', which merged into ''Bigg Boss Halla Bol!'', was the eighth season of the Indian reality television series ''Bigg Boss'', which premiered on TV channel Colors from 21 September 2014 and concluded on 3 January 2015 with five f ...

'' as guest

Discography

* "Yeh Dil Sun Raha Hai" (2000) as part of Sansara * "Habibi" (2000) * "Le Le Mera Dil" (2002) * "Sophie & Dr. Love" (2003) * "Baby Love - Sophie" (2004) * "

Aap Jaisa Koi "Aap Jaisa Koi" () is a song from the soundtrack of the 1980 Bollywood film '' Qurbani''. It was the debut song of Pakistani singer Nazia Hassan, and was composed by British Indian producer Biddu. The song was featured in the film as an item num ...

" in ''Sweet Honey Mix'' (2004) * " Sound of Sophie" (2009) * "Hungama Ho Gaya" (2012) digital single * "Hungama Ho Gaya" (2013) compilation album * "Do You Know Baby" (2015) * "Aaj Naiyo Sauna" (2019) with

Manj Musik Manjeet Singh Ral ( Punjabi: ਮਨਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਰਾਲ, born 24 January 1975), better known by his stage-name Manj Musik, is a British Indian composer, singer and Filmi scorer. He was one of the music composer for the bhangra mus ...

Awards

* 2001: UK Asian Pop Award for Best Female Newcomer * 2004: Lycra MTV Style Award for Most Stylish Female in Music * 2005: Bollywood Music Award for Best Female Pop Artist

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Choudry, Sophie Living people 1980 births Actresses from Manchester Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Hindi television Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art Alumni of the London School of Economics Bollywood playback singers British actresses of Indian descent British expatriate actresses in India British VJs (media personalities) English expatriates in India English film actresses English people of Indian descent English pop singers English television actresses European actresses in Bollywood European actresses in India Expatriate musicians in India Sciences Po alumni Singers from Manchester 21st-century English actresses 21st-century English singers 21st-century English women singers