Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto will make her debut at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) gala in Madrid. The US-based Indian actress will be honoured with International Icon award at the 17th edition of the gala. IIFA — often known as Bollywood’s Oscars — is held every year to honour the best of Hindi cinema. A source from the IIFA team confirmed that Freida will be getting the honour.

In a short span of her career in the entertainment industry, Freida has carved out a niche of her own in world cinema through her roles in films like “Slumdog Millionaire”, “Miral”, “Day of the Falcon”, “Immortals”, “Desert Dancer” and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”.

After attending the awards ceremony, Freida will fly off straight to Monrovia (capital of Liberia) to join the First Lady of the US Michelle Obama for Let Girls Learn — a government initiative aimed at helping girls obtain quality education. Freida, along with Michelle Obama, her daughters Sasha and Malia and their grandmother Marian Robinson – will travel to Liberia, Morocco and Spain at the end of June and early July as part of the Let Girls Learn initiative.