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

Femina Miss India Miss India or Femina Miss India is a national beauty pageant in India that annually selects representatives to compete in Miss World, one of the Big Four major international beauty pageants. It is organised by '' Femina'', a women's magazine p ...

1994 at the age of 18. After winning the Miss Universe pageant, she has worked as a film actress. Sen won the

Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress The Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise a female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role. Although the Filmfare ...

for her performance in the comedy film '' Biwi No.1'' (1999), and was also nominated in the category for her roles in the dramas ''

Sirf Tum ''Sirf Tum'' () is a 1999 Indian Hindi romance film directed by Agathian. It was released on 4 June 1999. The film features Sanjay Kapoor, Priya Gill, Sushmita Sen, Jackie Shroff and Mohnish Behl. The movie was filmed in Nainital, Kerala and ...

'' (1999) and '' Filhaal...'' (2002). Her commercially successful films include '' Aankhen'' (2002), '' Main Hoon Na'' (2004), and ''

Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya? ''Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?'' () is a romantic comedy directed by David Dhawan. It is the adaptation of the 1969 English film, '' Cactus Flower''. It stars Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen, Katrina Kaif and Sohail Khan, with Arshad Warsi, Beena Kak, Rajp ...

'' (2005). Sen has starred in the drama series '' Aarya'' since 2020, for which she won Best Actress at the Filmfare OTT Awards.

Early life

Sen was born into a Bengali Baidya family in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

to Shubeer Sen, a former

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct ...

Wing Commander, and Subhra Sen, a jewellery designer and owner of a Dubai-based store. She has one sibling. She attended Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

and St. Ann's High School in

Secunderabad Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South Central Railway ...

, but did not pursue any further higher education.

Pageantry

Femina Miss India

In 1994, as a teenager, Sen won the title ' Femina Miss India Universe', earning the right to compete at the Miss Universe 1994 contest.

Miss Universe 1994

At the Miss Universe contest, Sen ranked third overall in the preliminaries, behind Miss Colombia Carolina Gómez and Miss Venezuela Minorka Mercado. Sen went on to place second, fifth and third in the subsequent rounds and finally won the title and crown of Miss Universe 1994. She was the first Indian to win the title. After the Times Group relinquished the rights to choose the Indian representative to Miss Universe, Sen's project, I Am She – Miss Universe India, took over, running it for three years (2010 to 2012). This was followed by Femina taking over.

Miss Universe judge 2016

in January 2017 appeared as one of the judges of

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall St ...

2016 at the

Mall of Asia Arena The SM Mall of Asia Arena, also known as the Mall of Asia Arena or the MoA Arena, is an indoor arena within the SM Mall of Asia complex, in Bay City, Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines. It has a seating capacity of 15,000 for sporting events, an ...

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasay; ), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 440,656 people. Due to its location jus ...

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...

, Philippines on 30 January 2017. Joining her as judges were Cynthia Bailey, Mickey Boardman, Francine LaFrak,

Miss Universe 2011 Miss Universe 2011 was the 60th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Credicard Hall in São Paulo, Brazil on September 12, 2011. At the end of the event, Ximena Navarrete of Mexico crowned Leila Lopes of Angola as Miss Universe 2011. It is the ...

Leila Lopes Leila Luliana da Costa Vieira Lopes Umenyiora (born 26 February 1986) is an Angolan model and beauty queen best known for having been crowned Miss Universe 2011. She had previously won Miss Angola UK 2010 and Miss Angola 2010. Early life Lop ...

, and Miss Universe 1993 Dayanara Torres.

Acting career

1990s

After her reign as Miss Universe, Sen became an actress. Her first film '' Dastak'' was in 1996, in which she played the victim of a stalker, played by

Sharad Kapoor Sharad Kapoor (born 13 February 1976) is an Indian actor, who works in Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region enc ...

. Mukul Dev starred as the lead actor. She then starred in the 1997 Tamil action film ''

Ratchagan ''Ratchagan'' () is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film written, produced by K. T. Kunjumon, and directed by Praveen Gandhi. It stars Nagarjuna and Sushmita Sen, alongside Raghuvaran, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Vadivelu and ...

''. Two years later, her appearance as Rupali in

David Dhawan David Dhawan (born Rajinder Dhawan; 16 August 1951) is an Indian director of Hindi films. A member of the Dhawan family, he has directed over 42 films. The 1993 action thriller '' Aankhen'' and 1999 comedy '' Biwi No.1'' earned him two Filmfa ...

's comedy film '' Biwi No.1'' won her the

in 1999. ''Biwi No.1'' was the second highest-grossing movie of 1999. The same year, she was also nominated for her role in the drama ''

'' in the same category. In 2000, she appeared in a dance song in the film ''Fiza''.

2000s

She received critical acclaim and box office success for the film '' Aankhen'', starring opposite

Arjun Rampal Arjun Rampal (born 26 November 1972) is an Indian actor, model, film producer and television personality who works in Hindi films. He made his acting debut in Rajiv Rai's romance film '' Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat'' (2001) and has since gone on t ...

. The film co-starred

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

Akshay Kumar Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia (born 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian-born naturalised Canadian Quote: "(Former prime minister Stephen) Harper campaigned in 2011 alongside one of Modi's biggest celebrity backer ...

, Aditya Pancholi and

Paresh Rawal Paresh Rawal (born 30 May 1955) is an Indian actor, comedian, film producer and politician known for his works notably in Hindi films, and Telugu, and a few Gujarati and a few Tamil films. He has appeared in over 240 films and is the recipien ...

. The biggest success of her career came with the 2004 action film '' Main Hoon Na'', in which she played the role of a chemistry teacher who falls in love with

Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. Referred to in the media as the " Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood ...

's character. The film grossed a total of 330,000,000 and was the second highest-grossing film of that year. Later, Sushmita played a lawyer in ''

Main Aisa Hi Hoon ''Main Aisa Hi Hoon'' () is a Hindi-language drama film released in 2005. It was directed by Harry Baweja and stars Ajay Devgn, Sushmita Sen, Esha Deol and Anupam Kher. This film is a remake of the American drama film ''I Am Sam'' written and di ...

'' opposite

Ajay Devgan Vishal Veeru Devgan (born 2 April 1969), known professionally as Ajay Devgn, is an Indian actor, film director and producer who works in Hindi cinema. Devgn has appeared in over a hundred films and has won numerous accolades, including four ...

. In 2005, she also starred in a remake of '' Cactus Flower'', called ''

''. Sen played the lead, opposite

Salman Khan Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. In a film career spanning over thirty years, Khan has received numerous awards, including two Nation ...

and Katrina Kaif. She also played the leading role in '' Karma Aur Holi.''

2010s

In 2010, Sushmita played the role of a successful supermodel called Shimmer in '' Dulha Mil Gaya''; the film was a moderate success that year. She additionally appeared in the action-comedy film ''No Problem'' the same year. In 2015, she starred in a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film titled ''

Nirbaak ''Nirbaak'' () (2015) is an Indian Bengali-language drama film directed by Srijit Mukherji, starring Sushmita Sen, Jisshu Sengupta, Ritwick Chakraborty and Anjan Dutt. This is the first Bengali film for Sushmita Sen. The film was released in K ...

''. In Sen's career, this was her first film in

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken ...

2020s

In 2020 Sen appeared in Disney Hotstar's TV Series Aarya, where she won the 2021 Critic's Choice Award. She returned for the second season released in December 2021.

Personal life

Sushmita Sen at Raveena's chat show for NDTV (2)

Sen has two adopted children. Sen has

Addison's disease Addison's disease, also known as primary adrenal insufficiency, is a rare long-term endocrine disorder characterized by inadequate production of the steroid hormones cortisol and aldosterone by the two outer layers of the cells of the adrena ...

and requires lifelong steroid drugs to manage the illness. Sen and Rohman Shawl were in a relationship from 2018 until 2021. In July 2022, it was reported that she is dating businessman and cricket administrator Lalit Modi.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Sushmita 1975 births 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses from Hyderabad, India Actresses in Bengali cinema Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Bengali people Femina Miss India winners Indian beauty pageant winners Indian film actresses Living people Miss Universe 1994 contestants Miss Universe winners Mithibai College alumni Female models from Hyderabad, India Filmfare Awards winners Screen Awards winners International Indian Film Academy Awards winners Zee Cine Awards winners