Chopra was born in Jamshedpur to parents who were both physicians in the Indian Army, causing the family to move frequently during her childhood, but she considers Bareilly her real home. As a teenager she lived for some years with an aunt in the United States. In 2000, her mother entered her into the Femina Miss India contest, in which she finished second and took the Miss India World title.[a] She was then entered into the Miss World pageant, where she was crowned Miss World 2000 and Miss World Continental Queen of Beauty—Asia & Oceania, becoming the fifth Indian to win the competition.Although Chopra at one time aspired to study engineering or psychiatry, she accepted offers to join the Indian film industry, which came as a result of her pageant wins, making her acting debut in the Tamil film Thamizhan in 2002. The following year, she starred inThe Hero, her first Hindi film release, and followed it with the box-office hit Andaaz, which won her the Filmfare Best Female Debut Award and a nomination for the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award. She subsequently earned wide critical recognition for the role of a seductress in the 2004 thriller Aitraaz, winning her the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role.