Quotes from Dia Mirza

One thing led to another and I was selected from Hyderabad for the Miss India pageant. I remember my mother being really surprised that I wanted to take part!

I happened to be spotted by a modeling agent who offered me a part-time job at 16. Everything happened very quickly after that - advertising campaigns, fashion shows, editorial shoots.

Participating in Miss India was a paradigm shift and I had a blast.

Being married to a wonderful, motivating partner has brought happiness and a greater sense of purpose to my life.

My father was a German architect and graphic designer, who travelled all over the world, teaching teachers on how to teach. On one such visit to the Max Mueller Bhavan in Delhi, he met my mother.

I can make a mean Kachchi Biryani, and sometimes I bake it, too.

I handle my home beautifully. However, I am not just my husband's name.

It's really wrong to judge someone because of their beliefs.

I was allowed to take my adoptive father's surname. My birth certificate has a different name. My passport has both my adoptive and biological father's surnames.

Dia is the way my name was originally spelt. When I was applying for my passport for the Femina Miss India Contest, someone spelt my name as Diya. Since it was on my passport, I couldn't do much about it.

It really doesn't matter whether it's an ensemble cast or it's a lead or what is perceived as a commercial or non-commercial or an offbeat film. None of that would matter, what really matters is the story and who's telling the story.

Working with a female director has great perks.

I get bored of training easily. I constantly need something to invigorate me, which will get me to hit the gym.

When I was just four-and-a-half, my parents separated and both my parents remarried.

Failure at the box office of some of my earlier films led to a lack of opportunity to play main lead in good films.

Some people feel divorce is an excuse to not compromise. Yes, in life you have to adapt and compromise. But the questions is - when does it stop? How much is too much, how less is too little? That's a personal choice.

My personal style is classic. So a classic element will always find its way into everything I wear.

If you are asking me whether I would want to have kids, I would say obviously I want them. It's only natural after a certain phase in life.

I lost my biological father at nine, but up until then, we celebrated Christmas and Easter too.

What gives you strength at any circumstance is your understanding of yourself.

I have never stored water in plastic bottles, always in glass, steel or copper bottles and containers. I even carry my own water to work, and refill bottles for drinking.

I was told 'You should just do commercials and Bollywood' and Bollywood would be said to me like it's a bad thing.

I calculated that if I live up to the age of 80, then I end up using 450 toothbrushes in my life. All that plastic! So I switched to bamboo toothbrushes years ago.

I am in Deepak Ramsay's 'Koi Mere Dil Mein Hain,' where I am a modern girl who wears bold outfits. She makes heads turn wherever she goes. She is not a brat. She nurses this false belief that she can get any man she wants.