Tanya Selvaratnam (born ) is a writer, film producer, activist, and actor. In January 2014, Selvaratnam published ''The Big Lie: Motherhood, Feminism, and the Reality of the Biological Clock''. In 2021, she published ''Assume Nothing: A Story of Intimate Violence''. Selvaratnam is a co-founder of The Federation, a coalition of artists, organizations, and allies committed to promoting art as a tool of intercultural communication and tolerance. She is also known for having made allegations of intimate partner violence against New York Attorney General

Eric Schneiderman Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 65th attorney general of New York from 2011 until his resignation in May 2018. Schneiderman, a member of the Democratic Party, spent ten year ...

; her allegations, as well as similar allegations made by other women, led to Schneiderman's 2018 resignation from office.

Early life and education

Selvaratnam was born in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, and was raised in

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, California. She attended high school at

Phillips Academy Andover Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

and graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1992. Her master's thesis on the interplay of law and practice with regard to women's rights in China was published in the ''Journal of Law and Politics''.

Career

Selvaratnam is the Senior Advisor, Gender Justice Narratives, for the Pop Culture Collaborative. She is the author of two books: ''The Big Lie: Motherhood, Feminism, and the Reality of the Biological Clock'' (2014) and ''Assume Nothing: A Story of Intimate Violence'' (2020).

Amazon Studios Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and television production and distribution company owned by Amazon, and headquartered at the Culver Studios complex in Culver City, California. Launched on November 16, 2010, it took its current name on O ...

plans to create a limited series based on ''Assume Nothing'', with Mimi Won Techentin serving as show runner.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas Priyanka Chopra Jonas (; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is India's highest-paid actress and has received List of awards and nominations received by Priyanka Chopra, nume ...

will serve as a producer on the project and may star in the series. With the artist Laurie Anderson and the producer Laura Michalchyshyn, Selvaratnam is a co-founder of The Federation, which she describes as "an unprecedented coalition of artists, organizations, and allies committed to keeping cultural borders open and showing how art unites us". The Federation was formed in response to the

Trump travel ban As President of the United States, Donald Trump has taken several executive order, executive actions restricting entry into the United States by certain foreign nationals. His First presidency of Donald Trump, first-term travel bans predominan ...

. One year after Trump was inaugurated, the Federation and various artists held an Art Action Day. Selvaratnam has produced for Joy To The Polls. She has engaged in media relations for the Rubell Family Collection in Miami. As an actor, she performed in “The Shape of Things,” a day of workshops and performances at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. As an activist, Selvaratnam has worked with the Third Wave Foundation, the NGO Forum on Women, the World Health Organization, and the Ms. Foundation for Women. In 2020, Selvaratnam was a volunteer for the Biden-Harris Policy Committee and also served as Content Chair of Arts for the campaign.

Personal life

From 2016 to 2017, Selvaratnam dated New York Attorney General

. The two first met at the

2016 Democratic National Convention The 2016 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 25 to 28, 2016. The convention gathered delegates of the Democratic Party, the maj ...

. In May 2018, Selvaratnam and other women made allegations of physical abuse against Schneiderman; ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' published a report on their allegations. Three hours after the allegations were made public, Schneiderman resigned from his office. Selvaratnam recounted her experience with Schneiderman in her 2020 book, ''Assume Nothing: A Story of Intimate Violence''.

Bibliography

Books

* ''The Big Lie: Motherhood, Feminism, and the Reality of the Biological Clock'' (2014) * ''Assume Nothing: A Story of Intimate Violence'' (2021)

Filmography

''What's On Your Plate?'' (2009)

''Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman'' (2013)

''Born to Fly'' (2014)

''UNSTOPPABLE'' (for Planned Parenthood) (2018)

''GLAMOUR Women of the Year'' (2017-ongoing)''AGGIE'' (2020)
ref>
''SURGE'' (2020)''Love to the Max'' (2024)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Selvaratnam, Tanya 1971 births 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women Activists from New York City American feminist writers American people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent American social justice activists American women memoirists American women non-fiction writers American women television producers American women writers of Asian descent American writers of Sri Lankan descent Harvard University alumni Living people People from Long Beach, California Phillips Academy alumni Writers from New York City