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Match made in Mumbai

Move over Brad and Angelina, all eyes are on Slumdog Millionaire stars, Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto who look set to become the new Golden Couple of the film world. The two young actors have recently bought to life their onscreen romance and their celebrity status is rapidly on the rise. Network News takes a look at their two very different lives which have come together in what could be a perfect match.
Slumdog Millionaire is available on DVD

Dev Patel

Born: 23 April 1990
Family Background: Born in Harrow to Indian/Kenyan Hindu parents. Dev still lives at home saying: “I live two different lives when I’ acting and then I go home and my mum is saying, make your bed and help with the washing-up. It keeps me grounded.”

Educational Highspot: GCSE Drama, for his “self-penned portrayal of a child in the Beslan school siege”. His drama teacher stated: “Dev was a gifted student who quickly impressed me with his innate ability to communicate a wide variety of characters imaginatively and creatively.”

Big Career Break: Patel began his acting career in late 2006 when he auditioned for the E4 teen drama television series Skins. Patel’s mother saw the casting ad in a newspaper and took him to the audition even though he had an AS science exam the next day.

Slumdog Millionaire casting: Director Danny Boyle’s daughter had seen Dev on Skins and recommended him to her dad. Boyle had considered hundreds of young male actors, but found that Bollywood leads were generally “strong, handsome hero-types”, not the personality he was looking for! Hence he picked the more natural, innocent Dev.

Other Talents: Martial Arts supremo – he holds a black belt in Taekwondo and was a bronze medallist at the 2004 AIMAA World Championships.

Views on Nudity: Dev played the, sex-crazed Anwar in Skins, which involved nude scenes. Initially reluctant to take the job, because of the controversial sex, drugs and nudity storylines, his mother made sure he didn’t turn down the chance of a lifetime, saying:, “He was apprehensive when he found out he’d have to appear naked, he said: ‘Oh God I am going to have to show my bum!’ I told him: ‘It’s only a bum, you’ve seen lots of people’s bums before.’ Now Dev thanks me for making him go to the audition.”

Future Projects: Dev has been cast in a lead role as Fire Nation’s evil prince Zuko in M Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender, alongside Twilight’s heartthrob Jackson Rathbone.

Frieda Pinto

Born: October 19 1984
Family Background: Frieda Pinto was born in Mumbai – her mother was a teacher and her father a bank manager. Pinto states that she is “completely pure Indian”, but her family is Catholic, possibly with Portuguese ancestors. She lives at home with her family in a posh suburb of Mumbai
Educational Highspot: (BA) Degree in English Lit from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai.

Big Career Break: A former model, Pinto was also featured in several television and print advertisements for products such as Wrigley’s Škoda, Chewing Gum, Vodafone, Airtel, and DeBeers. Frieda spent several years modelling and appeared in runway shows and magazine covers the world over.

Slumdog Millionaire casting: She was spotted when presenting a travel programme on Zee TV. After six months of casting, having had no acting experience, she finally landed the role of Latik. She has said of breaking into Bollywood: “It’s really difficult. You have to have a godfather or parents who can get you in. I got into modelling for the visibility factor, hoping that portals would open up for me to act. I did a lot of print because people found me too skinny in India to do television. We have the voluptuous, full-figured woman thing. People say I need to get a boob job, but I’m just comfortable the way I am.”

Other Talents: Frieda is trained in several different forms of Indian classical dance as well as Salsa. Her keen sense of style earned the accolade as one of Vogue’s 2009 top 10 stylish women.

Views on Nudity: “I don’t think I’d have an issue (doing a love scene), but it all depends on the director - what kind of work he’s done in the past. In India, I probably wouldn’t do something like that; it’s kind of taboo. It usually gets cut off at the censorship board level, so what’s the point of having shot it?”

Future Projects: In 2009 it was announced that Frieda Pinto was to become the highly lucrative ‘face’ of L’Oréal. Frieda also has a starring role in the latest Woody Allen film and is touted as being the next Bond Girl.