Sushmita Sen Biography

Sushmita Sen (born 19 November 1975) is an Indian film actress, model and the winner of the Miss Universe pageant of 1994. She was the first Indian to win the crown.

After completing her reign, Sen went on to pursue Bollywood. She started her career with the Hindi film, Dastak. She rose to stardom with the Tamil musical Ratchagan opposite Nagarjuna; later, she attained commercial and critical recognition for her roles in Sirf Tum (1999) and the comedy Biwi No.1 (1999). The latter earned her the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award. She has also acted in commercially successful films such as Aankhen (2002), Main Hoon Na (2004) - her biggest commercial success so far "? and Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya? (2005). She received critical acclaim for her female-oriented roles in films such as Filhaal... (2002), Samay: When Time Strikes (2003), Chingaari (2005), Zindaggi Rocks (2006), Aag (2007) and others.

Early life

Sen was born into a Bengali family in Hyderabad. Her parents are Shuber Sen, a former Indian Air Force Wing Commander, and Subhra Sen, a jewelry designer and owner of a Dubai-based store. She has two siblings, a sister named Neelam and a brother named Rajeev.

She has attended Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute in New Delhi and St. Ann's High School in Secunderabad, but did not pursue higher education.

Personal life

Sushmita Sen made history by adopting a baby girl named Rene in 2000. She, as a single woman of only 25 years of age, was not viewed as socially acceptable to obtain the guardianship of the baby. However, the High Court of Bombay quashed the appeal and she obtained gain of cause. On 13 January 2010, she adopted a three-month-old girl and named her Alisah.

Miss Universe

In 1994, as a teenager, Sen won the title of Femina Miss India. Sen then won the 1994 Miss Universe Pageant, held in Manila, Philippines, representing India.

At Miss Universe, Sen ranked third overall in the preliminaries, right behind preliminary winner Miss Colombia Carolina Gmez, and Miss Greece Rea Totounzi, who ranked second but won the preliminary swimsuit and evening gown competitions. Sen went on to place second, fifth and third in the swimsuit, India to the Miss Universe pageant from 2010 onwards through her project I Am She - Miss Universe India.

Film career

1990s

After her reign as Miss Universe, Sushmita became an actress. Her first film, Dastak was in 1996, in which she played the victim of a stalker played by Sharad Kapoor. Mukul Dev starred as the lead actor. She then starred in the 1997 Tamil, action film Ratchagan. Two years later her appearance as Rupali in David Dhawan's movie Biwi No.1 won her the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award in 1999. Biwi No.1 was the second highest-grossing movie of 1999. The same year, she was also nominated for her role in Sirf Tum in the same category. Following her dance song in Fiza known as 'Mehboob Mere', she tried to make a niche for her career in the Indian film cinema.

2000s

She received critical acclaim and box office success for film Aankhen starring opposite Arjun Rampal. The film co-starred Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Aditya Pancholi and Paresh Rawal. So far, her biggest hit has been the 2004 movie Main Hoon Na, in which she starred as Shahrukh Khan's love interest. The film grossed a total of Rs 330,000,000 and was the second best selling movie of that year. Later, Sushmita played a lawyer in Main Aisa Hi Hoon opposite Ajay Devgan. In 2005, she also starred in a remake of Cactus Flower, called Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?: Sen played the lead opposite Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif.

2010s

Sushmita plays the role of a successful supermodel called Shimmer in Dulha Mil Gaya; the film was a moderate success that year.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1996	Dastak	Sushmita Sen
1997	Zor	Aarti
1997	Ratchagan	Soniya	Tamil film
1999	Sirf Tum	Neha	Nominated"?Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award
1999	Hindustan Ki Kasam	Priya
1999	Biwi No.1	Rupali	Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award
1999	Mudhalvan		Special appearance (song) Tamil film
2000	Aaghaaz	Sudha
2000	Fiza		Special appearance (song)
2001	Kyo Kii... Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta	Sonam
2001	Nayak: The Real Hero		Special appearance (song)
2001	Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai	Lara Oberoi
2002	Aankhen	Neha Srivastav
2002	Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge	Mehak
2002	Filhaal...	Sia Sheth	Nominated"?Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award
2003	Samay: When Time Strikes	ACP Malvika Chauhan
2003	Pran Jaye Par Shaan Na Jaye	Herself	Special appearance
2004	Vaastu Shastra	Dr. Jhilmil Rao
2004	Main Hoon Na	Miss Chandni Chopra
2004	Paisa Vasool	Baby
2005	Chingaari	Basanti
2005	Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?	Naina
2005	Main Aisa Hi Hoon	Advocate Neeti Khanna/Neeti Chhahal
2005	Bewafaa	Aarti
2005	Kisna: The Warrior Poet	Naima Begum	Special appearance (song)
2005	It Was Raining That Night	Ayesha Sahani	Bengali / English language film
2006	Zindaggi Rocks	Kriya
2006	Alag		Special appearance (song)
2007	Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag	Durga/Devi aka Durga Devi
2009	Karma Aur Holi	Meera
2009	Do Knot Disturb	Kiran
2010	Dulha Mil Gaya	Shimmer Kanhai
2010	No Problem	Kajal
2016	Happy Anniversary
2015	Nirbaak
2016	Jodi emon hoto

Awards and nominations

List of acting awards and nominations

Year	Film	Award	Category	Result
2000	Biwi No.1	Filmfare Awards	Best Supporting Actress
2000	Sirf Tum	Filmfare Awards	Best Supporting Actress
2000	Biwi No.1	Star Screen Awards	Best Supporting Actress
2000	Sirf Tum	Star Screen Awards	Best Supporting Actress
2000	Sirf Tum	IIFA Awards	IIFA Best Supporting Actress Award
2000	Biwi No.1	IIFA Awards	IIFA Best Supporting Actress Award
2000	Biwi No.1	Zee Cine Award	Best Supporting Actress
2003	Filhaal...	Filmfare Awards	Best Supporting Actress
2003	Filhaal...	Star Screen Awards	Best Supporting Actress
2003	Filhaal...	IIFA Awards	IIFA Best Supporting Actress Award
2003	Filhaal...	Zee Cine Award	Best Supporting Actress
2004	Samay: When Time Strikes	Star Screen Awards	Best Actress
2005	Main Hoon Na	Zee Cine Award	Best Supporting Actress
2006		Rajiv Gandhi Award	Achievement in Bollywood
2013		Mother Teresa Awards	Social Justice
2016		Indian Affairs India Leadership Conclave	Eternal Beauty & Actress of the Decade

See also

• List of firsts in India