Born on October 13, 1990, Pooja Hegde was born and raised in Mumbai. At age 19, Pooja competed in the Miss India 2009 competition. However, she got eliminated in an early-round. (All photos/Pooja Hegde's official Instagram account)

Pooja, however, did not give up. She went on to re-apply in 2010. And guess what! The pretty lady emerged as the second runner-up in the Miss Universe India 2010 competition.

Pooja has also won Miss India South Glamorous Hair 2010.

She made her acting debut in 2012 with the Tamil film Mugamoodi and went on to feature in Telugu movies Oka Laila Kosam, Mukunda, Duvvada Jagannadham, Rangasthalam and Saakshyam.

In 2016, Pooja Hegde made her Bollywood debut with Ashutosh Gowariker's Mohenjo Daro, alongside Hrithik Roshan. Pooja was spotted by Gowariker's wife Sunita who saw her in an advertisement and recommended her to her director husband, who was searching for a fresh face for the film.

Hrithik Roshan went on record to say that Pooja Hegde is his best co-star by far and that he could not have asked for a nicer person or a more talented actor to work with in the film.

Pooja Hegde says without a 'godfather', it's not easy to come up in the film industry and success is slower but she isn't complaining.

"God is my godfather. It gets harder and tougher I would say to breakthrough (without godfather) but I think if you are talented, work hard and with a little bit luck, you can reach further," said Pooja Hegde.

Pooja Hegde, who originally hails from the coastal town of Mangaluru in Karnataka, hopes she gets offers to do Kannada and Malayalam films. In the past year, the actress was seen in big projects like Master with Vijay, Radhe Shyam with Prabhas, Acharya with Chiranjeevi, and Ram Charan. She will next be seen in Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan with Salman Khan and Cirkus with Ranveer Singh

Very few know that Pooja Hegde speaks five languages - Tulu, Kannada, Marathi, Hindi and English.

Though Pooja's Bollywood debut turned out to be a disaster, she bagged the 'Big Bollywood' film - Housefull 4 in 2019. Pooja said it was "absolute laugh and fun" working on the sets of 'Housefull 4', produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and directed by Sajid Khan.

On key takeaways from her film career so far, Pooja Hegde said, "Success and failure are both short-lived, and success brings in more success, and at the end of the day it's all about talent."

Pooja Hegde was last seen in Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, opposite Allu Arjun. She is also geared up for the Prabhas-starrer Radhe Shyam and Most Eligible Bachelor, opposite Akhil Akkineni.

Here's wishing a very happy birthday to Pooja Hegde!