Career beginnings and breakthrough (2002–2004) '' in 2003 After winning Miss India World, Chopra was cast as the female lead in
Abbas–Mustan's romantic thriller
Humraaz (2002), in which she was to make her film debut. Her screen debut occurred in the 2002 Tamil film
Thamizhan as the love interest of the protagonist, played by
Vijay. A review published in
The Hindu was appreciative of the film for its wit and dialogue; however it felt that Chopra's role was limited from an acting viewpoint. In 2003, Chopra made her
Bollywood film debut as the second female lead opposite
Sunny Deol and
Preity Zinta in
Anil Sharma's
The Hero: Love Story of a Spy. Despite rumors that she was not a good actress and discussions about possibly removing her from the film, Deol recognized her potential and insisted on giving her a chance to prove herself.
The Hero emerged as one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films that year, but received mixed reviews from critics.
Derek Elley from
Variety said that "mega-looker Chopra makes a solid screen debut." Later that year, she appeared in
Raj Kanwar's box-office success
Andaaz with
Akshay Kumar, sharing the female lead with debutante
Lara Dutta. Her performance earned her the
Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut (along with Dutta) and a
Best Supporting Actress nomination. Chopra's first three releases in 2004—
Plan,
Kismat, and
Asambhav—performed poorly at the box office. Chopra was typically cast during this earlier period as a "glamour quotient", in roles that were considered forgettable by film critic Joginder Tuteja. Chopra considers her first role as an antagonist, portraying Soniya Roy, an ambitious woman who accuses her employee of sexual harassment, as the "biggest learning experience of her career". The
Hindustan Times cited it as the film that changed her career significantly. She won a
Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role, becoming the second and final actress to win the award after
Kajol (the category was discontinued in 2008). Shilpa Bharatan-Iyer of
Rediff.com considered
Blackmail to be a very predictable film and believed that her role as a police commissioner's wife was very limited from an acting point of view. Her performance in
Karam was better received, Subhash K. Jha wrote that Chopra "with her poised interpretation of high drama, flies high creating a character whose vulnerability and beauty are endorsed by both the inner and outer worlds created for her character." Later that year, Chopra played the wife of Akshay Kumar in
Vipul Amrutlal Shah's family drama
Waqt: The Race Against Time, the story of a small businessman (played by
Amitabh Bachchan) who, hiding his illness, wants to teach his irresponsible son some lessons before he dies. During production, Chopra revisited Leh, a favourite childhood haunt, for the shooting of the song "Subah Hogi". The film was well received by critics, and was a commercial success. at the premiere of
Don (2006)|alt=Priyanka Chopra and Shah Rukh Khan She next starred opposite
Arjun Rampal in the romantic mystery thriller
Yakeen, portraying the role of a possessive lover. Critical reaction towards the film was mixed, but her performance received praise.
Taran Adarsh wrote that Chopra "is bound to win laurels yet again [...] the actor is emerging as one of the finest talents in these fast-changing times". Her next release was
Suneel Darshan's romance
Barsaat, co-starring
Bobby Deol and
Bipasha Basu. The film was a critical and commercial failure in India, but fared better in the overseas market. Chopra's performance received mixed reviews, with
Bollywood Hungama describing it as "mechanical". However, Rediff.com considered Chopra to be an "epitome of calm intelligence, who underplayed her role to perfection". Later that year,
Rohan Sippy cast her alongside
Abhishek Bachchan,
Ritesh Deshmukh and
Nana Patekar in the comedy
Bluffmaster!. Chopra played independent working woman Simran Saxena, Bachchan's love interest. The film proved to be a box-office success. Her next film was
Dharmesh Darshan's romantic comedy
Aap Ki Khatir, co-starring
Akshaye Khanna,
Ameesha Patel and
Dino Morea. Neither the film nor Chopra's performance were well received. Chopra's final release of 2006 was
Farhan Akhtar's action-thriller
Don (a remake of the
1978 film of the same name), with
Shah Rukh Khan. Chopra portrayed
Roma (played by
Zeenat Aman in the original film), who joins the underworld to avenge Don for killing her brother. Chopra received martial-arts training for her role in the movie, and performed her own stunts. The film was declared a box-office success in India and overseas, with revenues of .
Setbacks and resurgence (2007–2008) In 2007, Chopra had two leading roles. Her first film was
Nikhil Advani's
Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love, a romantic comedy-drama in six chapters with an
ensemble cast. She was featured opposite Salman Khan in the first chapter as Kamini, an
item girl and aspiring actress who tries to land the lead role in a
Karan Johar film with a publicity gimmick. Film critic Sukanya Verma praised her flair for comedy, especially her impressions of
Meena Kumari,
Nargis and
Madhubala. Both
Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love and her next film,
Big Brother, proved unsuccessful at the domestic box office. Her performance was poorly received;
Rajeev Masand was unimpressed with Chopra's chemistry with her co-star, remarking that her character "fails to inspire either affection or sympathy". She next appeared in the comedy
God Tussi Great Ho, portraying a TV anchor opposite Salman Khan,
Sohail Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. Chopra next starred as a kindergarten teacher in
Chamku opposite
Bobby Deol and
Irrfan Khan, and played the role of Sonia in
Goldie Behl's fantasy superhero film
Drona opposite Abhishek Bachchan and
Jaya Bachchan.
Drona, widely criticized for its extensive use of special effects, marked Chopra's sixth film in succession which had failed at both the box-office and critically, although Sukanya Verma of
Rediff.com stated that Chopra displayed convincing action heroine skills. Critics generally perceived at this time that her career was over. For the role, Chopra had to gain and steadily shed the weight during the production as the character progressed in the film. Both the film and her performance received critical acclaim, proving to be a major turning point in her career. Rajeev Masand felt that she "turns in a respectable performance, one that will inevitably go down as her best." For her performance, she won several awards, including the
National Film Award for Best Actress, the
Filmfare Award for Best Actress, the
IIFA Award for Best Actress, the
Screen Award for Best Actress, and the
Producers Guild Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. With a worldwide revenue of ,
Fashion emerged as a commercial success, and was listed by Subhash K. Jha as one of the best films of the decade with women protagonists. It was noted for being commercially successful despite being a
women-centric film with no male lead. Chopra said in 2012: "I think actually
Fashion kick started ... the process of female dominated films. Today you have so many other films which have done well with female leads." Chopra's performance and look in the film were praised. For her performances in both
Fashion and
Dostana, she jointly won the
Stardust Award for Actor of the Year – Female.
Nikhat Kazmi of
The Times of India thought that Chopra's role completely reinvented her, and Rajeev Masand wrote: "Springing a delightful surprise in a smaller part is [Chopra], who sprinkles her lines with a smattering of fluent Marathi and emerges one of the film's most lovable characters." Raja Sen of
Rediff.com named Chopra's performance as the best by an actress that year. Her role earned her several awards and nominations, including a second consecutive Producers Guild Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role after
Fashion and Best Actress nominations at the
Filmfare,
Screen and
IIFA awards. press conference in 2011 Chopra subsequently appeared in
Ashutosh Gowariker's romantic comedy ''
What's Your Raashee?, based on the novel Kimball Ravenswood
by Madhu Rye. The film depicts the story of a US-based Gujrati NRI in search of his soulmate among 12 girls (all played by Chopra) associated with the 12 zodiac signs. She received a nomination for the Screen Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film. She was considered for inclusion in the Guinness World Records'' book for being the first film actress to portray 12 distinct characters in one film. Chopra's heavy workloadfilming for several productions, travelling for endorsements and performing at live shows (including the Miss India pageant)took its toll; she fainted during filming, and was admitted to hospital. In 2010, Chopra starred with
Uday Chopra in
Jugal Hansraj's romantic comedy
Pyaar Impossible! as Alisha, a popular college girl (and later a working mother) who falls in love with a socially inept man. Later that year, she starred with
Ranbir Kapoor in
Siddharth Anand's romantic comedy-drama
Anjaana Anjaani. Set in New York and Las Vegas, the film follows the story of two suicidal strangers who fall in love with each other. The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success at the box office. She starred as a
femme fatale in her first film of 2011, Vishal Bhardwaj's black comedy
7 Khoon Maaf. Based on the short story ''Susanna's Seven Husbands
by Ruskin Bond, 7 Khoon Maaf'' centers on Chopra's Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes, an
Anglo-Indian woman who murders her husbands in an unending quest for love. The film and her performance received acclaim from critics. Nikhat Kazmi labelled the film "a milestone in Chopra's career graph", complimenting her "exquisite command over a complex character that is definitely a first in Indian cinema". Rachel Saltz of
New York Times felt that Susanna was more conceit than a character and that Chopra "though charming as always, can't make her cohere". Chopra's performance earned her the
Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Critics) and a nomination for the Filmfare Award, IIFA Award, Producers Guild Film Award, and Screen Award for Best Actress. Chopra's final release of the year saw her reprising her role as Roma in the second installment of the
Don franchise,
Don 2. Although the film received mixed reviews, Chopra's performance earned positive feedback from critics. According to
The Express Tribune, "Chopra ... seems to be the perfect choice for an action heroine. As you watch her effortlessly beat up some thugs in the movie, you come to the realization that she may be the first proper female action hero in Bollywood."
Don 2 was a major success in India and overseas, earning over worldwide.
Further success (2012–2014) Chopra's first film of 2012 was
Karan Malhotra's action drama
Agneepath, in which she starred with Hrithik Roshan,
Sanjay Dutt and
Rishi Kapoor. Produced by Karan Johar, the film is a remake of his father's 1990 production of the
same name. In one of several accidents to happen during production, Chopra's
lehenga (a traditional skirt) caught fire while filming a sequence for an elaborate
Ganpati festival song. She featured as Kaali Gawde, Roshan's loquacious love interest in the film.
Mayank Shekhar noted how much Chopra stood out in the male-dominated film.
Agneepath broke Bollywood's highest
opening-day earnings record, and had a worldwide gross of . Chopra next co-starred with Shahid Kapoor in
Kunal Kohli's romance,
Teri Meri Kahaani. The film relates the stories of three unconnected couples (each played by Kapoor and Chopra), born in different eras.
Anurag Basu's
Barfi!, with Ranbir Kapoor and
Ileana D'Cruz, was her final appearance of 2012. Set in the 1970s, the film tells the story of three people, two of whom are physically disabled. Chopra played Jhilmil Chatterjee, an autistic woman who falls in love with a deaf, mute man (Kapoor). Director
Rituparno Ghosh considered it a "very, very brave" role to accept given how demanding it is for an actor to convincingly portray a woman with autism. To prepare for the role, Chopra visited several mental institutions and spent time with autistic people. The film received critical acclaim and was a major commercial success, earning worldwide. Rachit Gupta of
Filmfare found Chopra to be the film's "surprise package" and found her performance to be "the best representation of [autism] on Indian celluloid".
Pratim D. Gupta of
The Telegraph highly praised Kapoor and Chopra, although he found her to be a "tad showy" in her part. Chopra received Best Actress nominations at the Filmfare, Screen, IIFA and Producers Guild Film Awards.
Agneepath and
Barfi! ranked among
the highest grossing Bollywood films to that point. The film was a commercial success, grossing approximately US$240 million worldwide. She played an NRI girl in the
Apoorva Lakhia's bilingual action drama
Zanjeer (
Thoofan in Telugu), a remake of the 1973 Hindi
film of the same name, which met with poor reactions from critics and was unsuccessful at the box office. Chopra next reprised her role of Priya in Rakesh Roshan's
Krrish 3a sequel to the 2006 superhero film
Krrishwith Hrithik Roshan,
Vivek Oberoi and
Kangana Ranaut. Critics felt that Chopra had very little to do in the film. Saibal Chatterjee of
NDTV writing that she "is saddled with a sketchily written role and is reduced to the status of a hanger-on waiting for things to unfold". The feature became a box-office success, earning over worldwide, to become Chopra's biggest commercial success to that point and her fourth major hit in two years. She danced a contemporary
mujra in the song "
Ram Chahe Leela" for
Sanjay Leela Bhansali's
Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela. In 2014, Chopra played the lead female role in
Yash Raj Films's romantic action drama
Gunday directed by
Ali Abbas Zafar, alongside
Ranveer Singh,
Arjun Kapoor and
Irrfan Khan. She portrayed Nandita, a
cabaret dancer in Calcutta. Set in the 1970s, the film tells the story of two best friends who fall in love with Nandita. Chopra next starred as the title character in
Mary Kom, a biographical film of the five time
world boxing champion and Olympic bronze medalist
Mary Kom. To prepare for the role, she spent time with Kom and received four months of boxing training. The film premiered at the
2014 Toronto International Film Festival, received positive reviews from critics, and her performance received critical acclaim.
Sudhish Kamath from
The Hindu criticized the film's screenplay but praised Chopra's "knockout" performance, writing "The spirited actress rises above the material and makes us invest in her and does full justice to the spirit" of the boxer. The
Indo-Asian News Service review noted the actress for expressing every shade of the character with "a pitch-perfect bravado".
Mary Kom emerged as a commercial success, with revenues of at the box office. She won the
Screen Award for Best Actress, the Producers Guild Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and received another nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.
Expansion into American film and television (2015–2019) In 2015, Chopra starred in
Zoya Akhtar's
Dil Dhadakne Do, an ensemble comedy-drama, featuring
Anil Kapoor,
Shefali Shah, Ranveer Singh and
Anushka Sharma. The film tells the story of a dysfunctional Punjabi family (the Mehras), who invite their family and friends on a cruise trip to celebrate the parents' 30th wedding anniversary. She portrayed the role of Ayesha Mehra, a successful entrepreneur and the eldest child. Pratim D. Gupta from
The Telegraph wrote of Chopra, "From the propah body language to the measured speech [...] shows the kind of depth she is able to bring to her lines and characters these days. Conversely, Shubhra Gupta of
The Indian Express commented that it was time for her "to being a little messy: all these not-a-hair-out-place roles are making her constrained." The cast of
Dil Dhadakne Do won the
Screen Award for Best Ensemble Cast, and Chopra was nominated for a Screen Award, IIFA Award, and
Producers Guild Film Award for Best Actress. In 2016, she dubbed for Kaa, a female python, in the Hindi version of the film
The Jungle Book. Chopra signed a talent holding deal with
ABC Studios and was later cast in the American thriller series
Quantico as the character
Alex Parrish. The series premiered in 2015 on
ABC, making Chopra the first South Asian to headline an American network drama series. The series received positive reviews from television critics and Chopra was praised for her performance. Rob Lowman of the
Los Angeles Daily News applauded her "dynamic screen presence" and
James Poniewozik of
The New York Times named Chopra as the "strongest human asset" of the show, and added that "she is immediately charismatic and commanding." She received the
People's Choice Award for Favourite Actress In A New TV Series for her role in
Quantico, becoming the first South Asian actress to win a People's Choice Award. The following year, Chopra won a second People's Choice Award for Favorite Dramatic TV Actress.
Quantico was cancelled after three seasons in 2018. Chopra later said that her move to America was prompted by disagreements with people in Bollywood: "I had people not casting me, I had beef with people, I am not good at playing that game so I kind of was tired of the politics and I said I needed a break.” Chopra next portrayed
Kashibai, the first wife of the
Maratha general
Peshwa Bajirao I, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's epic historical romantic drama
Bajirao Mastani, alongside Ranveer Singh and
Deepika Padukone. The feature opened to highly positive reviews, and Chopra received widespread praise for her portrayal which several reviewers regarded as her best performance to date. Rajeev Masand wrote "the film benefits from a nice touch of playfulness and humor in Priyanka Chopra's Kashibai. Chopra brings grace to the character, and practically steals the film." Film critic Raja Sen thought that Chopra, despite not being in the title role, owned the film, and wrote "Chopra's terrific in the part, her intelligently expressive eyes speaking volumes and her no-nonsense Marathi rhythm bang-on." A major commercial success,
Bajirao Mastani grossed at the box office, becoming one of the highest-grossing Indian films of all time. For her performance, she won the
Filmfare Award,
IIFA Award, and
Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress, and received a nomination for the Producers Guild Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. It did not perform well commercially. The following year, Chopra made her Hollywood live-action film debut by playing the antagonist Victoria Leeds in
Seth Gordon's action comedy
Baywatch opposite
Dwayne Johnson and
Zac Efron. The feature received unfavorable reviews.
IGN declared Chopra as the highlight of the film, noting she "outshines pretty much anyone she's in a scene with" and wrote "Chopra's engaging and interesting and is the only character that speaks with any kind of distinctive cadence." Scott Mendelson of
Forbes wrote "Chopra has fun as the baddie, but she stays in the background until the end of the movie and really only gets one big scene at the end of the picture."
Baywatch was not a commercial success in North America but the film performed well in the overseas markets, grossing approximately $178 million at the worldwide box office. The 2018
Sundance Film Festival marked the release of Chopra's next American film,
A Kid Like Jake, a drama about
gender variance, starring
Jim Parsons and
Claire Danes. Amy Nicholson of
Variety commended her "charming presence" but thought that her role added little value to the film. In early 2019, she had signed on to play the leading lady opposite Salman Khan in
Bharat, but opted out days before filming her scenes. Nikhil Namit, a producer of the film, said that she quit due to her engagement to
Nick Jonas and accused her of being "a little unprofessional". In 2019, Chopra had another supporting part, as a yoga ambassador, in
Todd Strauss-Schulson's comedy ''
Isn't It Romantic, which starred Rebel Wilson. The film was well received by critics and grossed approximately $49 million at the North American box office. Dana Schwartz of Entertainment Weekly considered her to be "perfectly cast" but Benjamin Lee of The Guardian'' thought that she was "not quite interesting enough". She returned to Hindi cinema (as Priyanka Chopra Jonas) later in 2019 with
Shonali Bose's biographical drama
The Sky Is Pink, in which she played mother to
Aisha Chaudhary, a teenager suffering from a terminal illness. She also produced the project, and connected with the story for its blend of humour and tragedy. Kate Erbland of
IndieWire found her to be "extraordinary" as "the film's driving force, a tough-talking mama bear", and
Anna M. M. Vetticad took note of the "simmering restraint" in her performance. The film did not do well at the box office. She received another nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.
Streaming projects (2020–present) In 2020, Chopra Jonas signed a two-year multimillion-dollar first-look TV deal with
Amazon Prime Video to back content by first time
BIPOC and female filmmakers. Her release that year was
Netflix's children superhero film
We Can Be Heroes directed by
Robert Rodriguez. She starred as Ms. Granada, the director of a superhero organisation called Heroics. The feature received generally positive reviews;
Richard Roeper from the
Chicago Sun-Times praised the actress for "livening up the proceedings" as the strait-laced Ms. Granada, and
Ian Freer of
Empire felt that she did the "kids' film acting to the hilt". Her first film of 2021 was
Ramin Bahrani's
The White Tiger, an adaptation of
Aravind Adiga's satirical
novel of the same name. She starred alongside
Adarsh Gourav and
Rajkummar Rao as Pinky Shah, the latter's character's wife, and also executive produced this Netflix production. Critical reviews towards the film and her performance were positive.
Variety described her role as a "feminist who [cannot] fathom how mired in the dark ages [her husband's family] can be". Writing for
The Times, film critic
Kevin Maher deemed Chopra's performance "impressive" and
The Hollywood Reporters David Rooney commended her for bringing "emotional depth" to her role. The film received a
Best Adapted Screenplay nomination at the
93rd Academy Awards. Later that year, Chopra appeared in the stand-up comedy special
Jonas Brothers Family Roast on Netflix. Her final film release of 2021 was the science fiction film
The Matrix Resurrections, the fourth installment in
The Matrix film series, appearing in a supporting role alongside
Keanu Reeves,
Carrie-Anne Moss,
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II,
Jessica Henwick, and
Jonathan Groff. She played a grown-up version of Sati, an exile program that was introduced in the
previous film.
Resurrections received mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office, grossing US$160 million against a US$190 million budget.
NDTV's Saibal Chatterjee wrote that Chopra's role "makes an impact despite its limited length". In 2023, Chopra Jonas next starred opposite
Richard Madden in Prime Video's action thriller series
Citadel. She played Nadia Sinh, a top-class spy who partners with Madden's character to take down the criminal syndicate that destroyed the spy agency Citadel and erased their memories. With a production budget of US$300 million, the six-episode first season made the series one of the
most-expensive television shows. It marked the first time in her 22-year career—at that point—thar Chopra received equal pay with her male co-star. She performed many of her own stunts, and suffered a permanent scar from an injury on her eyebrow. Critics had mixed opinions on the series, but Jasper Rees of
The Daily Telegraph was particularly impressed by Chopra Jonas' potential as a female
James Bond, finding her "flirty and funny and hard as a bag of nine-inch nails". Nick Allen of
Roger Ebert wrote that
Citadel positioned her as a "future action star", praising her "ass-kicking choreography" and "mix of determination and humor". Chopra and Madden's chemistry was remarked by critics among the show's strong and redeeming features.
Citadel was renewed for a second season, which will premiere in mid-2026. Chopra then led the romantic comedy drama
Love Again, opposite
Sam Heughan and
Celine Dion, an English remake of the 2016 German film
SMS für Dich. The film was panned by critics and became a box office bomb. In 2024, Chopra served as the narrator of
Disneynature's
Tiger, a documentary about Bengal tigers which was released on
Disney+. She starred alongside
John Cena and
Idris Elba in the action comedy
Heads of State, which released on Prime Video in July 2025. Chopra Jonas played a senior
MI6 agent who is tasked with protecting the prime minister of the United Kingdom and the president of the United States from a foreign adversary. Chopra's performance was received favorably;
The A.V. Clubs Tim Grierson described her as "the film's true action star". She played the leading role in another Russo brothers–Prime Video film: the
swashbuckler action thriller
The Bluff, which released in February 2026. Starring alongside
Karl Urban, Chopra will portray a former pirate in late 19th century
Cayman Islands who confronts her violent past. She will star opposite
Mahesh Babu in filmmaker
S. S. Rajamouli's action-adventure
Varanasi, her first Indian film since 2019 and first Telugu-language film since 2013. With a budget of (US$150 million), it is the
most expensive Indian film made. The film is slated for release in 2027. Chopra Jonas joined the cast of the comedy
Judgment Day in April 2025 with Zac Efron. == Music career ==