Lara Dutta was born on 16th April 1978 to a Punjabi father Wing Commander L.K. Dutta and to a Anglo-Indian Mother Jennifer Dutta. She finished her schooling days at Bangalore before she finished her Under Graduate in Economics in Mumbai University. She was the first Indian representative for Miss Intercontinental Pageant in 1997 and she won it too. She also won Femina Miss India title ahead of Miss World 2000 winner Priyanka Chopra. In the year 2000 she represents India in the Miss Universe competition and she won it very comfortably. Interestingly, in the same year Priyanka Chopra won the Miss World 2000 title and Diya Mirza won the Miss Asia Pacific title. In 2001 she was appointed as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador by UN.