Sushmita Sen

19 Nov, 1975 | Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

Actress

Biography

Sushmita Sen is an Indian actress, model and beauty queen who was crowned Femina Miss India Universe in 1994 and she later won the Miss Universe 1994 contest at the age of 18. Sen is the first Indian woman to win the competition. Primarily known for her work in Hindi films, she has also appeared in Tamil and Bengali language films. She has won several accolades including a Filmfare Award.   Sushmita was born in a Bengali family to Shubeer Sen, a former Indian Air Force Wing Commander and Subhra Sen, who worked as a fashion artist and jewellery designer. She has a brother, Rajeev Sen and a sister, Neelam Sen. She was born at St.Theresa's hospital, Hyderabad, and grew up in New Delhi. She attended school at Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute studying English, and had career plans in journalism. She has been linked romantically to several people. In 2000, she adopted a girl, Renee, as a single mother. In 1994, at the age of eighteen, Sushmita won the title of Miss India beating Aishwarya Rai who was the runner up. Sen represented India at the Miss Universe Pageant, held in Manila, Philippines. Sushmita won the Miss Universe contest. At Miss Universe, Sushmita ranked third overall in the preliminaries, right behind preliminary winner Miss Colombia Carolina Gomez and Miss Greece Rea Totounzi, who ranked second but won the preliminary swimsuit and evening gown competitions. Sushmita went on to place second, fifth and third in the swimsuit, interview, and evening gown semi-final competitions respectively, placing her in the third place behind Miss Colombia and Miss Venezuela Minorka Mercado. All three women went on to be the final three contestants. In the end, the judges placed their votes on Sushmita, making her the first woman from India to become Miss Universe. Sushmita's supposed rival at the Miss India pageant, Aishwarya Rai, went on to win the 1994 Miss World contest. Sushmita became an actress. Her first movie, Dastak in 1996, where she played the victim of a stalker, didn't do well at the box office. Her subsequent Tamil film Ratchagan, was a huge hit. However, it was two years later that her appearance as Rupali in David Dhawan's movie Biwi No.1 won her the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award in 1999. The same year, she was also nominated for her role in Sirf Tum in the same category, making her an obvious choice for winner. She received critical acclaim and box office success for the film Aankhen. So far, her biggest hit has been the 2004 movie Main Hoon Na, in which she starred as Shahrukh Khan's love interest. Later on, she 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. Her other movies include Karma, Confessions and Holi (2006) opposite Naomi Campbell, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007) and  Dulha Mil Gaya (2007) opposite Shahrukh Khan.