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Kangana Ranaut (also credited as Kangna Ranaut) is an Indian actress who, as of 2016, has appeared in 28 Hindi films, one Tamil film, and one Telugu film. She has received 31 awards, including three National Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards, three International Indian Film Academy Awards, and one award each from the Screen, Zee Cine and Producers Guild award ceremonies.
Ranaut made her acting debut in 2006 with a leading role in the thriller Gangster, for which she was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut, among other debut awards. Her portrayals of a character based on actress Parveen Babi in Woh Lamhe (2006) and a shrewd socialite in Life in a... Metro (2007) were lauded, with the latter earning her a Stardust Award for Breakthrough Performance – Female. Ranaut won numerous awards, including the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Filmfare Award in the same category for her role as a substance abusing supermodel in the drama Fashion (2008). Also in 2008, she featured as a village girl in Dhaam Dhoom, her first Tamil film.
Ranaut subsequently featured in several commercially successful films, including the supernatural thriller Raaz: The Mystery Continues (2009), the crime film Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai (2010), the romantic comedy Tanu Weds Manu (2011), and the comedy Double Dhamaal (2011). For her role in Tanu Weds Manu, she received nominations for the Screen Award for Best Actress and the Zee Cine Award for Best Actor – Female, among others. She followed this by playing brief roles in a series of box office flops that failed to propel her career forward. She said that she did some of these films due to a dearth of good roles.
In 2013 Ranaut played Kaya, a shapeshifting mutant, in the science fiction film Krrish 3, which ranks among the highest-grossing Bollywood films of all time. She received an IIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination for the film. Ranaut garnered critical acclaim for portraying the protagonist in the coming-of-age film Queen (2014), for which she also co-wrote the dialogues with Anvita Dutt Guptan. She won several awards for Queen, including the Filmfare and the National Film Award for Best Actress. Ranaut played dual roles in a sequel to Tanu Weds Manu, entitled Tanu Weds Manu Returns (2015), which became the first Bollywood film with a female protagonist to earn over ₹1 billion (US$15 million) in India. She received a second consecutive National Film Award for Best Actress and a Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress for her role.