I have always thought that Bollywood actresses were among some of the most beautiful women in the world.
So much that I even devoted a blog just to them.
But with the success of "Slumdog Millionaire", Bollywood has gotten the US's attention now.

So here are some of my favorite Bollywood actresses...starting with....

Of course Aishwarya Rai is the pretty much undisputed queen of Bollywood, and probably their most recognized face.
Ash, as her fans call her, really got the media's attention back in 2007 when she was hailed as the most beautiful woman in the world.
Even Hollywood actress Julia Roberts said so.
Before she was an actress, she wanted to become architect, but then the modeeling bug bit her, and Ash went into to modeling.
In 1994, she came in second place to another lovely lady that went on to fame in Bollywood, Sushmita Sen in the Miss India contest.
Ash then went on to win Femina Miss India, and in the same year, she went on to win Miss World.
Aishwarya made her acting debut in Mani Ratnam's 1997 Tamil biopic film, Iruvar.
Since then she has racked up over forty movies and is working on five movies for release in 2010.

One of my personal favorites is the beautiful Katrina Kaif.
She is very popular in Bollywood, even though she was actually born in Hong Kong, raised in Hawaii and later moved to England.
Katrina was voted Asia's Sexiest woman in 2008 and was the most searched for celebrity on Google.
Her first appearance was in 2003's Boom, and she has made over twenty films in Bollywood, Telugu and Malayalam cinema.

Kareena Kapoor (or "Bebo") was born on September 21, 1980 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
She is the daughter of Bollywood actor, producer and director, Randhir Kapoor and Indian actress, Babita.
Actually, the entire Kapoor Family has a long history in Bollywood cinema, starting with Dewan Basheswarnath Kapoor.
Kareena's sister Karisma Kapoor is also a popular Bollywood actress.
Her first film was 2000's Refugee, a film that also boasted the debut of Abhishek Bachchan who is married to Aishwarya Rai.
Besides her film acclaim, she was voted PETA India's "Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrities" in both 2007 and 2008.

(Do we see a "K" theme here?)
Like Kareena Kapoor, Kajol is also part of an illustrious family in Indian cinema, the Mukherjee-Samarth fanily.
Even though her first film Bekhudi (1992) was a box office failure, she caught the critics eye with her performance and has gone on to appear in thirty films.
Besides being a very popular actress, Kajol does a lot of humanitarian work in India.

You couldn't have a list of Bollywood actresses without including the legendary Madhuri Dixit.
She is so popular that she even made it into a joke on CBS' comedy, The Big Bang Theory, in the episode "The Bad Fish Paradigm"....

Sheldon Cooper: Is that woman Aishwarya Rai?
Rajesh Koothrapali: Yes, isn't she an amazing actress?
Sheldon Cooper: Actually, I'd say she's a poor man's Madhuri Dixit.

Besides being one of Bollywood's most popular actresses, she is one of Hindi cinema's best dancers.
Madhuri has won more awards than I can list here without using up the rest of the Hub.
She debuted in the 1984 film Abodh and has gone on to appear in over sixty films.

Another of my personal favorites is the stunning Bipasha Basu.
This Bengali beauty started out as a model at the age of 17.
She originally wanted to become a doctor, but her aversion for dissections and a chance meeting with international model Mehr Jesia set her on another path.
Like Madhuri, it would take a whole Hub just to list Bipasha's awards and nominations, so let's just say she has had a LOT during her career.
Her first film was Ajnabee (that also starred Kareena Kapoor), released in 2001. Bipasha won the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award for her performance.
Since then she has gone on to appear in over forty films.

Priyanka Chopra, the Bollywood Queen of Twitter with over 62,000 followers, this former Miss India World and later Miss World started out in the 2002 Tamil film Thamizhan.
Her first Bollywood film was The Hero: Love Story of a Spy in 2003.
Even though Priyanka is very popular, many of her films have struggled at the box office.
Critics and the public though seem to like her, as evidenced by yet another long list of awards and nominations.
Priyanka's father was a doctor in the military and she moved around quite a bit, and she actually attended Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts and John F. Kennedy High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
(By the way, Friends star Matt LeBlanc also attended Newton North High School, though not at the same time I don't think.)
Priyanka has appeared in over thirty movies during her career.