Dia Mirza

Dia Mirza Rekhi (born Dia Handrich; 9 December 1981) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi films. She won the title of Miss Asia Pacific International in 2000 after being crowned Femina Miss India Asia Pacific 2000. Mirza made her acting debut with the Hindi film Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein (2001), which earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut nomination.

Mirza went onto featured in films including Dus (2005), Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007), Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007), Kurbaan (2009), Sanju (2018) and Thappad (2020), with Sanju being her highest grossing release. She co-owned a production house, Born Free Entertainment, with her ex-husband Sahil Sangha. After their divorce, she launched her own production house, One India Stories, in 2019. She has since starred in the streaming series Kaafir (2019) and IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack (2024).

Mirza was born on 9 December 1981, in Hyderabad. Her father, Frank Handrich, is a German graphics and industrial fair designer, architect, artist and interior designer based in Munich. Her mother, Deepa, is a Bengali interior designer and landscaper who also volunteers to help alcoholics and drug addicts. When she was four-and-a-half years old, her parents divorced. After her mother married Ahmed Mirza, a Muslim man from Hyderabad, she adopted her step-father's surname. He died in 2003.

After initially attending Vidyaranya High School, a co-ed school, Mirza was enrolled into Nasr School, a girl's day school in Khairtabad. She then attended Stanley Junior College before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad.

Mirza worked while in college as a marketing executive for a media firm, Neeraj's Multi-media Studio. At the same time, she modelled for print and TV commercials for brands such as Lipton, Wall's ice cream, Emami and many more.

Mirza was the second runner-up at Femina Miss India 2000 and was subsequently sent to Miss Asia Pacific 2000, where she won. She also won Miss Beautiful Smile, Miss Avon and Miss Close-Up Smile in Miss India. When she won the Miss Asia Pacific title on 3 December 2000 in Manila, the Philippines, she became the first Indian since Tara Anne Fonseca to win this title in 27 years. She completed the hat-trick of India winning international pageants in the year 2000; Lara Dutta won the Miss Universe title and Priyanka Chopra won the Miss World title in the same year.

Following an uncredited appearance in the Tamil film En Swasa Kaatre (1999), Mirza made her acting debut in 2001 with Gautham Vasudev Menon's Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, a remake of Menon's Tamil film Minnale. She played Reena Malhotra opposite R. Madhavan and Saif Ali Khan. The film was a box office failure but later gained cult status and was a success upon its re-release. Her performance earned her nomination for Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut, but Taran Adarsh noted, "Dia looks like a doll and goes through the mandatory dance movements gracefully, but needs to polish her acting skills."

In 2001, she also appeared opposite Arjun Rampal in Deewaanapan,a box office failure. All her subsequent releases were commercially unsuccessful, including: Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge opposite Salman Khan (2002), Dum opposite Vivek Oberoi (2003), Praan Jaye Par Shaan Na Jaye (2003), Tehzeeb (2003), Kyun! Ho Gaya Na... (2004), Tumsa Nahin Dekha: A Love Story opposite Emraan Hashmi (2004), Stop! (2004), Blackmail (2005), Naam Gum Jaayega (2005) and Koi Mere Dil Mein Hai (2005).