Pinto's other notable roles include You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010), Love Sonia (2018), Hillbilly Elegy (2020), and Mr. Malcolm's List (2022).

[11][13] She later recalled being inspired by Sushmita Sen's victory in the 1994 Miss Universe competition, explaining that "the country was really proud of her, and I was like, one day, I want to do the same".

[13] She was featured in several television and print advertisements for products such as Wrigley's Chewing Gum, Škoda, Vodafone India, Airtel, Visa, eBay, and De Beers.

[20] Her auditions for both Bollywood and Hollywood productions, including Shimit Amin's Indian Hindi-language sports film Chak De!

[3][13] After undergoing six months of extensive auditions, Pinto won the role of Latika, the love interest of the main character Jamal, played by Dev Patel.

The Telegraph (Calcutta) opined "it's difficult to form an opinion" on her character; its columnist Bharathi S. Pradhan noted "Slumdog Millionaire wasn't really a test of Freida's acting abilities.

[26][27] In Woody Allen's comedy-drama You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010),[28] she acted alongside Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Anupam Kher, and Naomi Watts.

[30][31] Pinto then starred in Julian Schnabel's Miral (2010), based on a semi-biographical novel by Rula Jebreal, playing an orphaned Palestinian woman who grew up in a refugee camp in Israel.

The film, based on Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles, gave Pinto the role of a teenage Rajasthani peasant, who leaves her family to work for a British-born Indian hotelier, played by Riz Ahmed.

[49] Philip French of The Guardian stated that Pinto "captivates" in the lead role,[45] while Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called her performance "touchingly beautiful".

[50] In contrast, Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote that Pinto is "one of [the film's] loveliest attractions, but she and her director haven't been able to give Trishna a pulse".

[53] Despite overall negative reviews, Andy Webster of The New York Times described Pinto and Kebede as "refreshing" and praised their "independent presences amid the stiflingly male-dominated milieu".

[62] Pinto's first cinematic appearance in two years was in the biographical drama Desert Dancer (2014), which was about the life of Iranian choreographer Afshin Ghaffarian.

[66] It received largely negative reviews,[67][68] although Andy Webster of The New York Times noted that "Pinto, even with an unfocused and underwritten role, is captivating".

[64] Pinto's first film of 2015 was Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups, which featured an ensemble cast including Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, and Antonio Banderas.

[78] Her third release of that year was the Colombian action film Blunt Force Trauma, in which she starred opposite Ryan Kwanten and Mickey Rourke as a woman looking for her brother's murderer.

[92] In 2013, Pinto appeared in a video clip for Gucci's "Chime for Change" campaign to raise funds and awareness of women's issues in terms of education, health, and justice.

[93] The following year, she participated at the "Girls' rights summit" in London, where she called for more progress toward the end of female genital mutilation and child marriage.

[94] In March 2015, she spoke out against the Indian government's ban on India's Daughter, Leslee Udwin's documentary on the 2012 Delhi gang rape.

[97] In February 2016, Pinto announced that she would be a part of a nonprofit organisation called "We Do It Together", which provides financing for feature films, documentaries, and television shows that focus on women's empowerment.

[17][100] In March 2009, The Daily Telegraph reported Pinto as the highest-paid Indian actress,[101] although she had not appeared in a Bollywood film to that point.

[108] In 2011, Pinto was included as the only Indian celebrity among the "50 Most Beautiful Women in Film", a list compiled by Los Angeles Times Magazine.

[114] Two years later, a controversy arose when she appeared in an advert promoting a L'Oréal product; it showed Pinto in what was perceived to be a lighter skin tone due to make-up or editing.

[115][116] A popular actress in Hollywood, Pinto remains a relatively little-known figure in India;[98][117] critics and analysts have attributed the fact to the failure of Slumdog Millionaire in the country.

[118] Indian sociologist Ashis Nandy remarked, "My periscope does not pick her up", while journalist Khalid Mohamed stated, "She is not a factor in Mumbai.

"[98] The Indian media has criticised her "fluctuating" accents, in Hindi and English, and attributed her inability to find roles in Bollywood to her dark complexion.