The Queen - A Bio-data of Hema Malini

Hema Malini (born October 16, 1948) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer-choreographer, who starred in numerous successful Bollywood films in the 1970s, most notably the extremely successful Sholay.

Malini is one of the most successful female filmstars in the history of Bollywood. She has starred in a large number of hit films and in both commercial and arthouse cinema. She is a member of India's Bharatiya Janata Party and represents the party in Rajya Sabha, the upper House of parliament [2]. She now spends most of her time involved in charitable and social ventures, though she still makes special appearances in films.

Her very close friend is actress Rekha, who she groomed in her early days at Bollywood. Hema still remembers how she used to braid Rekha's long hair everyday, when they stayed together for 2 years in Bombay at Hema's house.
Hema Malini was educated at Andhra Mahila Sabha, Chennai.

She acted in a short episode as dancer in Pandava Vanavasam, a 1961 Telugu film. Hema first tried to enter films in 1964, but was rejected; Tamil director Sridhar said she had no star appeal. She persisted and found her niche in Bollywood. She debuted in a 1968 film Sapnon Ka Saudagar ("The Dreamseller"), playing a young teen opposite the ageing superstar Raj Kapoor. With Dev Anand in Johnny Mera Naam (1970), Hema became a top star. She worked with him again in Tere Mere Sapne (1971), among other films, with the latest being Aman Ke Farishtey (2003). Hema double-roled with Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar in 1972's Seeta Aur Geeta as the top female star in Bollywood.

She became one of the reigning divas of the Bollywood film industry, and her fans called her The Dream Girl of Bollywood (an allusion to the movie of the same name where she starred opposite Dharamendra).

Hema Malini starred in many movies throughout the 1970s and 1980s and is perhaps best remembered for her glamour, style, and accomplished classical dancing. She formed a hit pair with Dharmendra, and the duo performed a number of hit movies like Sholay, Charas, Aas Paas, Jugnu, Seeta Aur Geeta, The Burning Train. She also achieved some strong dramatic or comic moments in films like Trishul, Joshila, Lal Patthar, Meera and Satte Pe Satta.

After taking a back seat from films for a number of years in the 1990s and early 2000s, Hema has recently made a comeback of sorts. Malini co-starred with Amitabh Bachchan in the successful film Baghban (2003), and played a cameo role (also opposite Bachchan) in the 2004 blockbuster Veer-Zaara. In both films, she played a beautiful, self-possessed, old married woman rather than the ingenuinee roles of her earlier career.

She tried her hand at directing and made the 1992 film Dil Aashna Hai which featured an all-star cast including Shahrukh Khan and the late Divya Bharti.
Hema also directed and starred in the TV serial Noopur, in which she was depicted as a Bharatanatyam dancer going to America.

text from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hema_Malini