Aishwarya Rai was born 1st November 1973 in Mangalore in the state of Karnataka, India. Krishnaraj and Vrinda Rai are her parents. She is not a Bengali as many speculate. Her ancestors are from the Bunt community of Mangalore and Tulu is her mother tongue but she also speaks English, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and Tamil. She has one elder brother, Aditya Rai who is a film producer. After her birth her family moved to Mumbai. Aishwarya spent her school days at Arya Vidhya Mandir, Santacruz, Mumbai and her college days at The DG Ruparel College, Mumbai.

Aishwarya Rai had her first Modelling Assignment when she was in 9th grade, for Camelin Industries. Later She did Assigments for Pamolive, Casio Pager, Pepsi, Philips, Sheetal Diva, Prudent, L'Oreal and many more...

She started her film career after she won the Miss World contest in 1994.

Rai debuted in Mani Ratnam's Tamil language film, Iruvar (1997) with Mohanlal. She was introduced to Bollywood in the film, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya; the film did not do well at the box office. However, her third project, a Tamil-language film, Jeans (1998) by S. Shankar was a critical and commercial success for which she was awarded the Filmfare Best Actress Award. Aishwarya then appeared in many Bollywood films; a few successful films of her career include Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Taal (1999). She was again awarded the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her role in the Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

In 2002, Rai appeared with superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Devdas, which was a major box-office success and earned her the Filmfare Best Actress Award for the third time. The film attracted overseas attention as well, receiving a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival.

She was chosen by Time magazine in 2004 as one of the World's "100 Most Influential People" and in October 2004, a wax figure of Rai became on display in London's Madame Tussaud's wax museum.

At the end of the year 2006, she had two releases: Umrao Jaan and Dhoom 2. Umrao Jaan did poorly in India; however, her role in Dhoom 2, a sequel to the 2004 hit movie Dhoom was a commercial hit. 2007 saw the release of Mani Ratnam's Guru which premiered in Toronto. The film, based on the life of Indian businessman Dhirubhai Ambani, was critically acclaimed and a big box office hit.Her most recent film, Provoked, based on the book "Circle of Light" where she portrays a real life character, was released on 6 April, 2007 in India and the UK. The film did well commercially in the UK. At the end of April 2007 her first American film, The Last Legion, was released in Russia and the Netherlands. The film opened in North American theaters in August 2007.

Aishwarya comes from a traditional southern Indian family with traditional values. Despite her access to a very glamorous lifestyle, she loves spending time with her family and close friends. She has described herself as having "immense faith in God"

Her confidence belies her status in the industry. But it is her keen sense of direction and her intrinsic intelligence which makes her so poised and confident.

She dated actors Salman Khan & Vivek Oberai before starting her relationship with Abhishek Bachchan, son of the legendary Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan. After much speculation, her engagement to Abhishek Bachchan was announced on January 14, 2007. They married on April 20, 2007 in a private ceremony held at the Bachchans' bungalow Prateeksha. The event was heavily covered by the media.