Sonal Chauhan turns 35 today. She may be away from movies but keeps in touch with fans on social media by sharing some stunning pictures, this being one of them on the beach.

The actress loves to be a beach baby and often shares moments of candidness. Here, she strikes a gorgeous pose in a black swimsuit.

Sonal Chauhan was born on May 16, 1985, in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. She did her schooling at Delhi Public School in Noida and received a Philosophy Honours degree at Gargi College in New Delhi. She is a fashion model, singer and actress who predominantly works in Telugu and Bollywood films. (All Pituress/Sonal's official Instagram account)

In 2005, Sonal Chauhan was crowned Miss World Tourism 2005 at Miri, Sarawak State of Malaysia, becoming the first Indian to have claimed the title. Following this, she went on to appear in several ads for major brands and graced several magazine covers. Sonal even turned showstopper for a leading jewellery brand at the India International Jewelry Week in 2011.

Before foraying into Bollywood, Sonal Chauhan appeared as Himesh Reshammiya's love interest in the music video Samjho Na Kuch To Samjho Na, from his 2006 album Aap Kaa Surroor.

Sonal Chauhan's Bollywood debut with the 2008 film Jannat happened when Kunal Deshmukh, the film's director spotted her at a restaurant in Mumbai. They exchanged numbers and after a professional meeting, she was signed and started shooting for the venture in a week. She was paired opposite Emraan Hashmi and inked a three-film deal with the Bhatts.

Interestingly, Sonal Chauhan's Bollywood debut Jannat released on the day of her 21st birthday. The film and its soundtrack were well received by critics and audiences, and Sonal received a Filmfare Award nomination for Best Female Debut.

Sonal Chauhan then worked in the Telugu film Rainbow, which released the same year as Jannat. She followed that up by starring opposite Shiva Rajkumar in the 2010 Kannada film Cheluveye Ninne Nodalu, which was notable as it had scenes shot in the seven wonders of the world.

Sonal Chauhan returned to Bollywood in 2011 with Bbuddah... Hoga Terra Baap, which starred Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini, Sonu Sood, Prakash Raj, Charmme Kaur, and Raveena Tandon. Directed by Puri Jagannadh, it received positive reviews from critics.

The following year, Sonal Chauhan acted in Pehla Sitara. In 2013, she starred in the horror-thriller 3G, opposite Neil Nitin Mukesh. Both were rumoured to be in a relationship during this time. Sonal even crooned the track Kaise Bataoo in the film, which was a duet also featuring singer KK.

2014 marked Sonal Chauhan's return to Telugu filmdom after 4 years. She shared the screen with the legendary Nandamuri Balakrishna in the action-thriller Legend, which also starred Radhika Apte. Balakrishna essayed a dual role in this blockbuster.

Sonal Chauhan then acted alongside Ram and Rakul Preet Singh in the 2015 Telugu comedy-drama Pandaga Chesko, which received mixed reviews but was hit with moviegoers nonetheless. The film was dubbed in Hindi as Businessman 2.

The same year, Sonal Chauhan starred opposite Nandamuri Kalyan Ram in the action-comedy Sher. The film also starred Vikramjeet Virk, Mukesh Rishi, Sayaji Shinde, comedy legend Brahmanandam, Ashish Vidyarthi and others.

Sonal Chauhan made her Tamil film debut with Inji Iduppazhagi, another 2015 venture, which was simultaneously shot in Telugu as Size Zero. The film also starred Baahubali actress Anushka Shetty, Arya, Urvashi and Prakash Raj. It was remade in Odia as Chhati Tale Ding Dong. Clearly, the language of the film doesn't matter much to her.

Sonal Chauhan reunited with Nandamuri Balakrishna on-screen with the 2016 film Dictator. It was Balakrishna's 99th movie as an actor and also starred Anjali. It became the second-biggest opener for Balakrishna after Legend at the box-office. She played an aspiring actress in the actioner.

In 2018, Sonal Chauhan made her Bollywood comeback after five years with director JP Dutta's  war drama Paltan. The film also starred Jackie Shroff, Arjun Rampal, Esha Gupta, Sonu Sood, Monica Gill, Harshvardhan Rane, Gurmeet Choudhary, Siddhant Kapoor, Rohit Roy and Luv Sinha.

Like most Bollywood actors, she also entered the digital space in 2019. Sonal Chauhan made her web debut with sci-fi web-show Skyfire. The show also featured Prateik Babbar, Jatin Goswami and Jisshu Sengupta.

'I won't say that the content is better on the web than Hindi films because there are some very amazing films that are being made. Now it is a very good time in the industry where there are fabulous shows being made for the web. I am happy that this is happening,' Sonal told IANS. 'It goes the same for films because we have some great movies being made,' she added further.

According to her, a large credit goes to the audience as they have become 'very intelligent and are accepting good content'. 'It doesn't really matter if it has big stars or not, what matters is that the audience wants to see great content. Both web and films are going through a transition period, which is really good, even for actors there's a lot more to do now. It's a good time,' said Sonal.

Here's wishing the actress a happy birthday!

P.S: Happy birthday, Sonal Chauhan!