Aishwarya won the Miss World title held at Sun City, South Africa in 1994, after emerging victorious among 87 countries that participated in the competition. 

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's tryst with the Cannes Film Festival began with Devdas, where she appeared alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period romantic drama. She played the role of Paro. The film was screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival and was featured by Time in their listing of the '10 Best Films of the Millennium.'

From the 'David Letterman show' to 'The Oprah Winfrey show' Aishwarya has appeared on them all. A lot was written about how she schooled Letterman after he asked the actor whether she still live with her parents.

Aishwarya featured in Gurinder Chadha's version of Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice, that featured the lives of four unmarried daughters in an Indian family. In Bride Prejudice, she played Lalita, who wants to fall in love and choose her own partner. She also acted in 'The Mistress of Spices' that had screenplay by Chadha and director Paul Mayeda Berges.

In 2009, she featured in 'The Pink Panther 2, alongside Steve Martin. She played Sonia, an Indian criminologist and a member of the Dream team.