Karisma Kapoor, nicknamed "Lolo" born on June 25, 1974 in Mumbai, Maharashtra,to Randhir Kapoor, an actor popular during the 1970s and 80s, and actress Babita. Her sister is actress Kareena Kapoor. She studied at the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai until grade six. Her grandfather is actor Raj Kapoor.
Making her film debut in 1991, Kapoor went on to become one of the most popular actresses of her generation. During her career years, she has been part of many commercially and critically successful films, Raja Hindustani being the most notable of them, as it was her biggest commercial success, and won Kapoor her first Filmfare Best Actress Award. She surprised critics and audiences with her performances in art films such as Fiza (2000) and Zubeidaa (2001), for which she earned a Best Actress and Best Actress (Critics) awards at the Filmfare ceremony. Since then, she has worked in several films though most of them performed poorly at the box office.
In 2003, Kapoor took a break from cinema and is likely to make her comeback very soon.
Karisma does not like to talk about her personal life but she has been romantically involved with Ajay Devgan and Abhishek Bachchan. She announced her engagement to Bachchan in October 2002 on the 60th birthday of Abhishek's father, Amitabh Bachchan. Four months later in February 2003, they split up.
On 29 September 2003, she married industrialist Sanjay Kapur, CEO of Sixt India. In typical Kapoor tradition, Karisma was married at her grandfather, the late Raj Kapoor's home, R K Cottage. The couple opted for an hour-long Hindu ceremony. The couple has one daughter named Samaira, who was born on 11 March 2005. After the birth of her daughter, there was considerable rift between her and her husband. The couple has subsequently patched-up.
Karisma made her debut in the 1991 movie Prem Qaidi, which was a semi-hit. Although most of her multiple releases from 1992-1996 failed to do well at the box office, she had some success with films like Jigar (1992), Anari (1993), Raja Babu (1994), Coolie No. 1 (1995), Saajan Chale Sasural (1996) and Jeet (1996).
In 1996, Kapoor played the female lead in Dharmesh Darshan's Raja Hindustani opposite Aamir Khan. The movie was the highest grossing film of the year and she won her first Filmfare Best Actress Award. The following year, she won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award and the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Yash Chopra's super-hit, Dil To Pagal Hai opposite Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit.
Kapoor took a year break from films in 1998. Her diminutive comeback in 1999 proved to be good as she took part in the year's most successful films. Kapoor starred in four absolute hits. David Dhawan's comedy Biwi No.1 opposite Salman Khan became the biggest hit of the year. She proved to have success with comedy films, as David Dhawan's another film Haseena Maan Jaayegi did fairly well at the box office.
Kapoor also collaborated for the first time with the Rajshri Productions banner with Hum Saath-Saath Hain: We Stand United which also resulted in a hit. Her last release, Jaanwar opposite Akshay Kumar, was another box office hit, making her the most successful actress of the year.
In 2000, she won her second Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance in Khalid Mohammed's Fiza . Her performance in the film was much appreciated as she surprised the audiences and the critics showing great emotional range and depth. She also achieved critical acclaim for her role in the film, Zubeidaa (2001), which garnered her the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance. Her performance in Shakti - The Power (2002) was highly appreciated and earned her many nominations in the Best Actress category.
In 2003 she played the leading role in the television series Karishma: A Miracle of Destiny. After her film, Baaz: A Bird In Danger that also released in 2003, she took a sabbatical from full time acting for three years.
Her most recent release was the delayed film, Mere Jeevan Saathi (2006) in which she played a negative role.
In October 2008, alongside actor Arjun Rampal and director/choreographer Farah Khan, Kapoor began judging the dance show Nach Baliye 4.