Ameesha Patel (born Amisha Amit Patel on 9 June 1976) is an Indian actress who appears in mainly Bollywood movies and also in Telugu films. Making her acting debut in the blockbuster Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000), Patel won critical praise for her performance in Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001), which became one of the biggest hits in the history of Hindi cinema, earning her a Filmfare Special Performance Award. She would subsequently star in a number of films, most of which proved unsuccessful at the box office. However, her performance in the 2006 film Ankahee, received critical recognition and she followed it in 2007 with a supporting/comic role in the multi-starrer hit Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. and also co-starred opposite Akshay Kumar in the hit Bhool Bhulaiyaa. In 2011, she founded her own production company Ameesha Patel Productions, along with her business partner Kuunal Goomer.

 

Her relationship with filmmaker Vikram Bhatt was often talked about in the Indian media as well as her long-running rift with her parents.