Preity Zinta was born on 31 January 1975 into a Rajput family from Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. Zinta father, Durganand Zinta, was an officer in the Indian Army. He died in a car accident when she was 13 years old; the accident also involved her mother, Nilprabha, who was severely injured and consequently remained bedridden for two years. She has two brothers; Deepankar and Manish, a year older and a year younger, respectively. Deepankar is a commissioned officer in the Indian Army, while Manish lives in California.
Zinta is an Indian actress and entrepreneur in Hindi films. She gets graduate degrees in English Honours and Criminal Psychology. In 1998, Zinta made her acting debut in ‘Dil Se’ in same year a role in Soldier. She earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. In 2000, she was recognised for her role as a teenage single mother in Kya Kehna. She established a career as a leading actress of Hindi cinema with a variety of character types. She played roles in Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (2001), Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Dil Hai Tumhaara (2002), and Armaan (2003). She received the Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her performance in the Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003). She played leading roles in two consecutive annual top-grossing films in India, the science fiction film Koi… Mil Gaya (2003) and the romantic drama Veer-Zaara (2004).
Zinta made her first international film role debut in the Canadian drama Heaven on Earth (2008), for which she received awarded the Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress. She was nominated for the Genie Award for Best Actress. She followed this with a hiatus from acting work for several years, with the exception of her self-produced comeback film, Ishkq in Paris (2013).
She was the founder of the production company PZNZ Media. Preity Zinta is co-owner of the Punjab Kings in Indian Premier League since 2008, and owner of the Stellenbosch Kings in South-African T20 Global League since 2017.
In 29 Feb 2016, Zinta married Gene Goodenough at a private ceremony in Los Angeles. Goodenough is Senior Vice-President for Finance at US-based hydroelectric power company ‘NLine Energy’. In 2021, Zinta and Goodenough became parents to twins, a boy and a girl, through surrogacy.
