Priyanka Chopra was born on 18 July 1982 inJamshedpur, Bihar (now in Jharkhand), to Ashok and Madhu Chopra, both physicians in the Indian Army.[3][4] Her father was a Punjabifrom Ambala.[5][6] Her mother, from Jharkhand, is the eldest daughter of Ms. Madhu Jyotsna Akhouri, a former member ofBihar Legislative Assembly, and Dr. Manohar Kishan Akhouri, a former Congressveteran.[7][8] Chopra has a brother, Siddharth, who is seven years her junior[9] and actressesParineeti Chopra, Meera Chopra and Mannara Chopra are her cousins.[10] Due to her parents' occupations the family relocated to a number of places in India, including Delhi, Chandigarh,Ambala, Ladakh, Lucknow, Bareilly, andPune.[11] Among the schools she attended were La Martiniere Girls' School in Lucknow[12] and St. Maria Goretti College in Bareilly.[13][14] In an interview published inDaily News and Analysis, Chopra said that she did not mind travelling regularly and changing schools; she welcomed it as a new experience and a way to discover India's multicultural society.[15] Among the many places that she lived, Chopra has fond memories as a child of playing in the valleys of Leh, in the cold northwestern Indian desert region of Jammu and Kashmir. She has said, "I think I was in Class 4 when I was in Leh. My brother was just born. My dad was in the army and was posted there. I stayed in Leh for a year and my memories of that place are tremendous ... We were all army kids there. We weren't living in houses, we were in bunkers in the valley and there was a stupa right on top of a hill which used to overlook our valley. We used to race up to the top of the stupa".[16] She now considers Bareilly her home town, and maintains strong connections there.[17]
