Actress Priyanka Chopra has confirmed that she will be present at the annual White House Correspondents’ Diner this weekend. The gala dinner will be President Barack Obama’s last in office.
Bollywood’s ‘desi girl’, who found global recognition with her character of an FBI agent, Alex Parrish, in the American TV series “Quantico”, is also currently shooting her Hollywood debut ‘Baywatch’.
The non-profit White House Correspondents’ Association, whose members include the reporters, producers, camera operators and other journalists, traditionally hosts this annual dinner to raise money for journalism scholarships.
Priyanka will be dining with some of Hollywood’s biggest names like Will Smith, his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, Kerry Washington, Shonda Rhimes, and Kim Kardashian’s model sister Kendall Jenner among others.
Priyanka joins the long list of Bollywood stars who have made their mark internationally.
Irrfan Khan, who has worked in several Hollywood productions like ‘Salaam Bombay’, ‘The Namesake’, ‘A Mighty Heart’, ‘Life of Pi’ and of course, ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ has already become a kind of household name in the west. Anil Kapoor, who made his Hollywood debut with ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, was also seen in the international hit TV series ‘24’. Thereafter, he was also seen in ‘Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol’ as well as a financial thriller ‘Cities’.
Another ex-Miss World, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, made waves abroad with her numerous appearances at the annual Cannes film festival. She, too, signed a series of crossover films like ‘Bride and Prejudice’, ‘Mistress of Spices’ and ‘Provoked’. Another talented Bollywood actress, Tabu, forayed into Hollywood with ‘The Namesake’. She then starred in the Oscar-winning film ‘Life of Pi’. Naseeruddin Shah was seen in the overseas production ‘The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen’ and Mallika Sherawat too bagged international projects like ‘The Myth’ and ‘Hisss’.
One of the pioneering Bollywood actors to venture into Hollywood was Amrish Puri. He signed ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ way back in the eighties. He was later also seen in the film ‘Gandhi’. His brother, Om Puri, too was one of the earliest Bollywood actors to go global. He acted in a British television drama series ‘White Teeth’. He then starred in a series of international productions, including ‘The Parole Officer’, ‘The Mystic Masseur’, ‘East is East’, ‘The Ghost and the Darkness’, ‘City of Joy’ ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ and ‘West is West’.
Another Bollywood diva, Deepika Padukone, is reportedly all set now to make her Hollywood debut with “XXX: The Return of Xander Cage” opposite Vin Diesel and Samuel L Jackson.
Priyanka’s presence at the White House dinner adds to the strong Indian-American connect. Earlier, writer Jhumpa Lahiri was also honoured with the National Humanities Medal for her works of fiction at an elegant White House event.
The over 3 million-strong Indian-American community today represents the second-largest immigrant group and the richest ethnic community in the US.
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