Several years ago Rubina Ali, now 13, was discovered in abject poverty to be an actor in critically acclaimed, Academy Award-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. Now Ali is set to star in a new film starring Anthony Hopkins,Lord Owen’s Lady, which is a love story about a young Welsh nobleman and an Indian woman.

Lord Owen’s Lady will commence principal photography in September this year in Britain and India. According to her management team, Rubina signed on to the project about 18 months ago. She will shoot for about three weeks in Shimla (northern India), Wales and London. Her salary will be more than 20,000 pounds or approximately $40,000 USD.

Rubina was only eight years old when she appeared in Slumdog Millionaire, which won eight Academy Awards in 2009.

Like several of the child stars in the film, she began life in a Mumbai slum and has experienced many hardships including, family disputes over her film wages and a devastating fire which destroyed her family’s Mumbai home.  Sadly, the fire also took the dress Ali wore to the Academy Awards.

Rubina now resides in the Bandra area of the city.

Ali in her previous home, a make-shift shack in a Mumbai Slum.

Rubina Ali walks through the make-shift shacks in her old Mumbai neighborhood.

Rubina Ali, now 13