Entertainment

Meet Priyanka Chopra, the former Miss World winner who snagged the lead role on ABC's new hit show, 'Quantico'

Jethro Nededog

2015-09-28T17:16:44Z

abc qauntico priyanka chopra 2 — Priyanka Chopra spent several years as a teenager in the U.S. ABC/Eric Liebowitz

Priyanka Chopra, 33, is getting a lot of attention as not only the lead on ABC's new FBI show, "Quantico," but the first South Asian actress to lead an American series.

But most Americans have no clue that she is already a big deal in India. Not only did she place at the Miss India pageant, she went on to win Miss World. She would then have a successful career as a film actress in Bollywood.

On "Quantico," Chopra's character, Alex Parrish, is suspected of being behind one of the biggest terrorist attacks on American soil. Over the season, we'll learn more and more about what makes Alex tick.

Similarly, there's more to Chopra than meets the eye – here's the fabulous life of Priyanka Chopra:

Meet Priyanka Chopra, the former Miss World winner who snagged the lead role on ABC's new hit show, 'Quantico'

Priyanka Chopra's parents were both doctors in the Indian army. They moved a lot and Priyanka even attended the 10th grade in Boston, Massachusetts.

Priyanka Chopra is a huge fan of Instagram, on which she has more than 3 million followers.

Priyanka Chopra's mother entered her in the Miss India World pageant. She actually placed second, but went on to Miss World and won.

Before winning Miss World, Priyanka Chopra wanted to be an engineer.

She's done a lot of acting and played the object of the main character's affection in her first movie, "Thamizha," in 2002.

In 2003, Priyanka Chopra made her first Bollywood movie, "The Hero: Love Story of a Spy." She would go on to do many, many Bollywood films.

In 2004, Priyanka Chopra performed in 19 cities as part of the music tour, Temptation. first music single was "In My City" in 2012. Her second single "Exotic" debuted in 2013, and hit the charts in the United States and Canada.

In 2008's "Fashion," Priyanka Chopra played a model. The media accused her trying to lose weight for the part. She said she actually had to gain weight and then lose it as the film progressed.

Priyanka Chopra began writing an opinion column, "The Priyanka Chopra Column," for the Hindustan Times in 2009. She wrote about several controversial columns regarding women's lives and safety in the country.

For a while, she was dating Bollywood star Shahid Kapoor, but they broke up in 2009.

Chopra hosted the third season of India's "Fear Factor."

She was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Child Rights in 2010.

In July 2012, Priyanka Chopra became the first Bollywood star signed by Creative Artists Agency.

One of her more notable American movie roles was voicing the airplane named Ishani in the 2013 Disney animated movie 'Planes.'

Priyanka Chopra has been chosen as the face of many brands, including Pepsi, Nokia, Garnier and Nestlé.

Now Chopra has landed the lead role in ABC's 'Quantico' where she plays an FBI agent in training who finds herself in the middle of a terrorist attack in NYC. Here she is with 'Scandal' star, Kerry Washington.

To prepare for her "Quantico" role, Priyanka Chopra worked with actual FBI agents.

Priyanka Chopranow splits her time between New York, Mumbai, Los Angeles, and Montreal, where "Quantico" films.