Neha Dhupia was born in Kochi, India to a Punjabi Sikh family. 2002 she entered the Femina Miss India pageant finishing in first place, winning the Femina Miss India Universe title, and was subsequently sent to the Miss Universe 2002 pageant in Puerto Rico. She was placed in the top 10.Neha Dhupia made her film debut in the 2003 Bollywood film Qayamat: City Under Threat (2003), which had an average performance at the box office. She rose to fame with her role Julie and then appeared in Sheesha (2005) in a dual role of twin sisters but it did not do well at the box office. She then starred in films such as Kyaa Kool Hai Hum (2005) and Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007), which did well at the box office, and featured in a segment of the anthology film Dus Kahaniyaan (2007).She has worked on her first international project with Chris Kattan in IFC's Bollywood Hero.She has run in the Mumbai Marathon to support the Concern India Foundation and helped to raise over 5 lakhs.She also helped to raise money for victims of the 2011 Sikkim earthquake.She performed in the GR8 Women's Award 2012.She also participated to the Hiru Golden Film Awards 2014 in Sri Lanka as a special guest along with Bollywood actors such as Sunil Shetty, Vivek Oberoi, Anil Kapoor, and actress Bipasha Basu.