One of the most charming leading ladies in South Indian cinema, model-turned-actress Rakul Preet Singh is well-beloved by the audience for her performances in hit movies like
Venkatadri Express (2013),
Nannaku Prematho (2016),
Dhruva (2016) and
Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru (2017). Since her feature debut in the Kannada movie Gilli (2009), she has appeared in around thirty films, which includes acting credits in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi cinema.
The actress is especially popular in Tollywood, where she has established herself as one of the top heroines by delivering solid performances in a slew of blockbusters. Along the way, Rakul Preet has also bagged several accolades, including the SIIMA Award for Best Actress for her work in Nannaku Prematho (2016), and a CineMAA Award as well.
An avid fitness enthusiast, she is also a stakeholder in three centres of the training gym franchise F45. In 2017, Rakul Preet was appointed as the brand ambassador of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao initiative by the Telangana State Government.
Early LifeBorn in a Punjabi family in New Delhi, on October 10, 1990 to her father Rajender Singh, an Indian army officer, and her mother Kulwinder Singh, Rakul also has a sibling named Amarjee. She completed her schooling from Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan, Delhi and graduated in BSc Mathematics (Hons) from Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi.
Movie CareerRakul Preet made her big screen debut with the Kannada film `Gilli` in 2009, while she was still in college. She received critical appreciation for her role in the film, but had to take a two year break to complete her graduation. She then participated in Femina Miss India 2011, and got instant fame by winning several titles at the prestigious paegent such as Femina Miss Beautiful Smile, Femina Miss Fresh Face, Femina Miss Beautiful Eyes, Femina Miss Talented, and even Miss India People`s Choice.
She ventured full-time into movies by making her Telugu film debut with
Keratam (released in 2011), where she was cast opposite debutant male actor
Siddharth Rajkumar. In 2012, Rakul Preet was seen for the first time in a Tamil movie with
Thadaiyara Thaakka, where she played a supporting role. Her first big commercial success was with the Telugu movie Venkatadri Express in 2013. For the same movie, she even received first nomination in the Best Actress category at the 61st Filmfare Awards South.
The success of `Venkatadri Express` gave the much needed fillip to Rakul Preet Singh`s career in the Telugu film industry. By 2014, she had her hands full and started working on multiple Telugu films at the same time. The same year, she made her debut in Bollywood with the Divya Khosla Kumar directed Yaariyan (2014).
Critical acclaim and commercial success continued to favour the actress in Tollywood, she and she subsequently appeared in well-received films such as Loukyam (2014), Current Theega (2014),
Nannaku Prematho (opposite Junior NTR),
Sarrainodu (opposite Allu Arjun) and the critically acclaimed
Dhruva (2016). Of these, her performance in Nannaku Prematho earned Rakul Preet her maiden SIIMA Award for Best Actress (Telugu).
In 2017, Rakul Preet was appeared alongside Mahesh Babu in the highly anticipated bilingual action thriller Spyder and opposite Akkineni Naga Chaitanya in the romantic drama Rarandoi Veduka Chudham. However, both these movies fell short of the expectations both in terms of critical reception and box office performance. The actress ended the year on a high note with the Kollywood action thriller
Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru (2017) alongside Karthi, which followed a police officer`s relentless pursuit of a dreaded gang. The film was a sensational success.
Rakul Preet`s sole release in 2018 was the Bollywood action thriller Aiyaary, which was directed by Neeraj Pandey and starred Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee in central roles. However, the film failed to impress one and all. Her other releases include the Tollywood biographical drama
NTR: Kathanayakudu (2019), the Kollywood political thriller
NGK (2019), the action-adventure thriller
Dev (2019), De De Pyaar De (2019),
Manmadhudu 2 (2019)
Marjaavaan (2019) and
Shimla Mirch (2020). Her 2021 releases include the Telugu movie
Check and Sardar Ka Grandson, a Netflix original movie directed by Kaashvi Nair. Her 2022 releases include Attack: Part One, Runway 34, Cuttputlli,
Doctor G and
Thank God. Her 2023 releases include Chhatriwali, Meri Patni Ka Remake and Indian 2.