Anushka Sharma always puts in the work. Sometimes the work pays off, as it did in NH-10, the first film she produced; the film was a sleeper hit and established her as a young tastemaker. Sometimes it doesn’t; the strange and wonderful Pari, in which she delivers the performance of a lifetime and out-acts every other mainstream star who’s been feted for a performance this year, opened in March to baffled reviews and middling box office. But the thirty-year-old actor keeps on doing her best, never slacking off, as is amply evident in the trailer for her upcoming Sui Dhaaga. Sharma, known for her easy chic and take-no-shit demeanor, plays the sort of timid housewifely type that one would never picture her as, and she seems to be pulling it off with the unfussy facility that has made her one of Bollywood’s most dependable star-actors.

Sharma toplined her own production in the first quarter of the year, moved on to a supporting part in Sanju, Rajkumar Hirani’s blockbuster Sanjay Dutt biopic starring Ranbir Kapoor, is following it up with a lead role opposite rising superstar Varun Dhawan in Sui Dhaaga (directed by Sharat Kataria of Dum Laga Ke Haisha fame), and will end the year with Shah Rukh Khan, her first ever co-star, in Anand L Rai’s highly anticipated Zero. This sort of diversity has long been a defining factor in the actor’s career choices; she mixes the big star vehicles with the left-of-mainstream passion projects, goes glamorous as Karan Johar’s leading lady and then feral and wildly unkempt in something like Pari. And she does it all with very little self-aggrandizing noise. Work is work, and Sharma is consistently excellent at her job in a no-nonsense manner that results in much less hype for her than her peers but endears her to filmmakers who remain keen on casting her almost ten years into her career as a leading lady.

The pregnancy rumours have began swirling around her and cricketer husband Virat Kohli already, but Sharma, who is neck-deep in promo work for her next, is not addressing any of that speculation. What we’d like to hear about is her next film; we hope she continues delivering knockout performances in interesting movies and producing challenging work for herself and other talents!

FACTS:

Age: 30
Net worth: $16 Million
Notable performances: Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Band Baaja Baaraat, NH10, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Pari
Awards: 2 Filmfare Awards, 1 Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Award
Frequently paired with: Ranveer Singh, Ranbir Kapoor, Shah Rukh Khan
Upcoming films: Sui Dhaaga (Varun Dhawan), Zero (Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif)