Kajol

Kajol was born into the Mukherjee-Samarth film family to actress Tanuja and filmmaker Shomu Mukherjee. She is a fourth-generation film artist; her maternal great-grandmother Rattan Bai, grandmother Shobhna Samarth, and aunt Nutan were all prominent actresses in Hindi cinema. Her younger sister Tanishaa Mukerji, cousins Rani Mukerji, Sharbani Mukerji, and Mohnish Bahl, and filmmaker cousin Ayan Mukerji also work in the Indian film industry. Her parents separated during her childhood, and she was largely raised by her maternal grandmother.

While filming Gundaraj in 1994, Kajol began dating actor Ajay Devgn. The couple married on February 24, 1999, in a traditional Maharashtrian ceremony at Devgn's residence. They have two children: a daughter, Nysa, born in 2003, and a son, Yug, born in 2010.

Kajol attended St. Joseph's Convent School in Panchgani, where she actively took part in dancing and developed a habit of reading fiction. She made her screen debut at the age of 16 in Rahul Rawail's romance Bekhudi (1992). Although she initially planned to return to school after filming during her summer vacation, she ultimately discontinued her schooling to pursue acting full-time.

Her commercial breakthrough arrived with the 1993 thriller Baazigar, directed by Abbas-Mustan and co-starring Shah Rukh Khan. The film marked the first of several successful pairings with Khan. In 1994, she received critical acclaim for Udhaar Ki Zindagi, earning the Bengal Film Journalists' Association Award for Best Actress, and scored another box-office hit with Yeh Dillagi.

In 1995, Kajol starred as Simran Singh opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Aditya Chopra's romantic drama Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. The film became one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time and won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. That same year, she starred in the action thriller Karan Arjun. In 1997, she took on a villainous role in Rajiv Rai's mystery thriller Gupt: The Hidden Truth, becoming the first woman to win the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role. She expanded her filmography that year with the Tamil musical romance Minsara Kanavu and the romantic comedy Ishq.

Her streak of major successes continued in 1998 with Sohail Khan's Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya, Tanuja Chandra's revenge drama Dushman, in which she played a dual role that earned her a Screen Award for Best Actress, and Karan Johar's directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, which grossed over 100 crore INR and brought her a second Filmfare Award for Best Actress.

In 2001, Kajol starred as Anjali Sharma in Karan Johar's ensemble family drama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, earning widespread praise for her comic and emotional timing and securing her third Filmfare Award for Best Actress. Following the film's success, she took a hiatus from the film industry to focus on her family life.

She returned to the screen in 2006 opposite Aamir Khan in Kunal Kohli's romantic thriller Fanaa, winning her fourth Filmfare Award for Best Actress. In 2008, she starred alongside Ajay Devgn in his directorial debut, U Me Aur Hum, portraying a woman diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. In 2010, she reunited with Shah Rukh Khan in Karan Johar's drama My Name Is Khan. To promote the film, Kajol and Khan became the first Indian actors invited by NASDAQ to open the NYSE American. Her performance as Mandira earned her a fifth Filmfare Award for Best Actress, tying the record held by her aunt Nutan.

In 2011, the Government of India awarded Kajol the Padma Shri, the nation's fourth-highest civilian award. Her subsequent screen credits include the Rohit Shetty action comedy Dilwale (2015), the Tamil film Velai Illa Pattathari 2 (2017), the comedy-drama Helicopter Eela (2018), the period biographical action film Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior (2020), and the Netflix family drama Tribhanga (2021).

Beyond acting, Kajol holds a managerial position at Devgn Entertainment and Software Ltd., where she supervised the launch of the filmmaking portal Cineexplore in 2000. In 2008, she served as a talent judge alongside Ajay Devgn and her mother Tanuja on the Zee TV reality competition Rock-N-Roll Family. In 2016, she was appointed as a part-time board member of the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati.

Kajol has also engaged in philanthropic work supporting the education of underprivileged children and the welfare of widows. Her social advocacy earned her the Karamveer Puraskar in recognition of her contributions.