Sushmita Sen life and biography

Sushmita Sen is an Indian actress who appears in Bollywood films. A former model, Sen was crowned Miss Universe in 1994. She was the first Indian woman to win the contest.

Sen was born on 19 November 1975 to a Bengali Kayastha Hindu family. Her father, Shubeer Sen, is a former Indian Air Force Wing Commander and her mother, Subhra Sen, is a fashion artist and jewelry designer. She has a brother, Rajeev Sen. She was born in St. Theresa's hospital, Hyderabad, and grew up in New Delhi. She did her schooling at the Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute.
In 2000, she adopted a daughter, named Renée. On 13 Jan, 2010 she adopted a three-month-old girl and named her Alisah.

In 1994, at the age of eighteen, Sushmita won the title of Femina Miss India beating Aishwarya Rai, who was the runner up. Sen represented India at the 1994 Miss Universe Pageant, held in Manila, Philippines and won there.

At Miss Universe, Sushmita ranked third overall in the preliminaries, right behind preliminary winner Miss Colombia Carolina Gómez, 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 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. She owns the rights to send delegates from India to the Miss Universe pageant from 2010 onwards through her project I Am She Miss Universe India.

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. She then starred in the 1997 Tamil blockbuster, 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, making her an obvious choice for winner. She received critical acclaim and box office success for 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. The film grossed a total of Rs 330,000,000 and was the second bestselling 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. Her most recent movies include Karma, Confessions and Holi (2006) opposite Naomi Campbell, Do Knot Disturb, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007) and Dulha Mil Gaya (2010) opposite Fardeen Khan.
It has been reported that Sushmita will portray the slain Pakistan Peoples Party leader Benazir Bhutto in a film co-produced by Zaid Aziz and Henna Rai of the Karachi production company Vox Vision, and Leicester-based Sum Films. Tentatively titled Benazir Bhutto: The Movie, the film will be shot in locations in Pakistan, the US, Britain and Dubai, where Bhutto spent years as a student and later as a political leader in exile. When Sushmita was asked about this big opportunity, she excitedly said, Yes, I am keen to play the role.

Recently she starred in Do Knot Disturb with long-time screen partner Govinda. The film failed to do well. Sushmita plays the role of a successful supermodel called Shimmer in Dulha Mil Gaya.

Read more