The 24-year-old Pinto, a Mumbai native who was then presenting a travel show on Indian TV. Freida Pinto is an Indian actress from Mumbai. Her debut movie Slumdog Millionaire has won the People’s Choice Award at Toronto Film Frstival.

Danny Boyle is the director of  newcomers Dev Patel and Freida Pinto as well as veteran actors Anil Kapoor and Irrfan Khan in this mind blowing film.

The very gorgeous lady, Freida Pinto struggled to jump-start and make her acting career happen. Most of Freida Pinto's career had been concentrated in the world of modeling. She also had the opportunity to work as a TV correspondent in Mumbai, but unlike most Bollywood models turned actresses, she just wasn't receiving any acting offers. Well, all of her luck has changed with her lead role in Slumdog Millionaire and she is being honored at an awards ceremony amongst some of the greatest American actors like Dustin Hoffman, Sean Penn, and Clint Eastwood.

Set in modern day Mumbai, the movie has proved a runaway success - drawing never-ending superlatives from film critics and scooping a raft of awards from across the globe.

Slumdog Millionaire was named the best film of 2008 by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, placing it in firm Oscar contention.

Based on the novel Q and A by Vikas Swarup, the film follows former street child Jamal (Dev Patel), who is about to land the top prize on Indian quiz show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? When he is accused of cheating.

The 20th Annual Palm Springs Film Festival gala will honor Freida Pinto the Breakthrough Performance Award.