Dimpled beauty Preity Zinta is arguably one of the talented actresses of Bollywood. From playing a love-struck girl in Shah Rukh Khan starrer Veer Zaara to essaying a bubbly girl in Salaam Namaste, film lovers got to see each and every shade of the actress on the silver screen. Daughter of an army officer, she belongs to Shimla in Himachal Pradesh.

As the actress turns 42 on Wednesday (31 January 2018), let’s check out some lesser known facts about her:

She is recipient of the Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award

In 2003, Bharat Shah Case, several celebrities had gotten involved. Preity was the only celebrity stood by her statement in court against the mafia when big personalities chose to back off. She did not budge, even when Bollywood bigwigs like Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan backed out.

She wrote several articles for BBC

Apart from her acting career, she has written a series of columns on South Africa for BBC News online. She aired her opinions about the kind of movies produced by the tinsel town.

She loves stitching

During her leisure time, she loves spending time stitching and doing embroidery. Besides this, she loves to cook for her family and friends.

She is a social activist

Preity adopted 34 girls from the Mother Miracle orphanage in Rishikesh in 2009, where she took up the responsibility of providing them food, education, and clothing.

She escaped death twice

Preity had a near death experience in 2004 when there was an explosion at a Temptation concert in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Later, the same year, when Tsunami swept through Thailand, she was vacationing there.

After this incident, the actress was quoted saying, “I wrote down all the things that I have in life to be grateful about and it was quite a long list.”

She is an alumnus of Harvard

The dimpled actress is one of the most educated Bollywood actors and has completed her graduation in English Honours and post-graduation in Criminal Psychology. She also received an Honorary Doctorate degree of Arts from the University of East London.

Youngest IPL team owner

Preity became the youngest owner of an IPL team back in 2009. Despite the public tiff in 2004, Preity continues to hold her stakes in the team.