Rubina Dilaik, best known for her role in Chotti Bahu, was born on August 26, 1987. She grew up in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, where her family owns an Apple orchard. Rubina completed her schooling and college studies in Shimla itself. (All photos/Rubina Dilaik's official Instagram account)

Very few know that Rubina Dilaik wanted to be an IAS officer. She was preparing for the competitive exams when she casually tagged along with her sister and friend to an audition being held in Chandigarh for a daily soap, only to get selected herself for the role in Chotti Bahu.

"I turned it down at first, as I had no plans of taking up acting as a career. But my mother cajoled me into taking it up," said Rubina.

In picture: Rubina with her mother Shakuntala Dilaik and father Gopal Dilaik. Her father is a writer and has written many books in Hindi.

Rubina Dilaika had won many beauty pageants including Miss Shimla in 2006 and Miss North India Pageant (2008). She had a penchant for acting and modelling.

Rubina Dilaik is clearly a multi-faceted personality. The actress, who has been a national level champion in debating, during the school days, is also an interior designer by profession.

Another lesser-known fact about Rubina Dilaik is that the actress not just wanted to become an IAS officer, she also aspired to become an astronaut in her growing years.

Rubina Dilaik is a very talkative person in real-life. In an old interview, the actress while comparing her reel-life character Radhika in Chotti Bahu, said she is flamboyant, extroverted and has a bad temper in real-life.

After Chotti Bahu, which ran for four years on television boxes (2008-2012), Rubina Dilaik acted in Punar Vivah - Ek Nayi Umeed (2013). However, the show did not taste success as much and ended within six months.

She appeared in small roles in shows such as Devon Ke Dev...Mahadev and Jeannie Aur Juju, however, Rubina Dilaik bounced back with the powerful role of a transgender in the show Shakti - Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki. "I found the plot to be unconventional, intriguing and extremely challenging. I was very confident about their move of introducing a transgender character in a mainstream show," Rubina told IANS about the show that successfully ran for four years (2016 to 2020).

Rubina did not tell her mother about the suspense behind her role of Soumya as she was not sure about the reaction she would get. However, the actress says when her mother got to know, she was proud of her choice and liked the way she is portraying the character. "My mom was pretty overwhelmed when the entire concept was disclosed. She was a bit disheartened as I did not tell her, but the fact that it turned out well, made her proud of me," said Rubina.

On the personal front, Rubina Dilaik was in a relationship with her Chotti Bahu co-star Avinash Sachdev. However, their love didn't last for long, but it ended on a mutual note.

Rubina Dilaik met Abhinav Shukla at a mutual friend's house during Ganesh festival. The couple first worked together in the show Choti Bahu – Sindoor Bin Suhagan but did not know each other much back then.

After dating each other for nearly four and a half years, Rubina and Anubhav got hitched in June 2018.

The couple loves to travel and their respective Instagram profiles are filled with their travel diaries. In 2019, the television's one of the most sought after couple launched their travelogue. While the petite actress added to the glamour quotient and rendered her voice and conceptualized the song, Abhinav took care of the photography, direction and editing department.

Rubina Dilaik, currently, is inside Bigg Boss house, as the actress along with her husband Abhinav Shukla is one of the contestants of the 14th season of the controversial reality show.

The presence of the husband-wife 'jodi' of Rubina and Abhinav promises fresh fireworks this season. Here's wishing good luck to the couple!