Sushmita was born in the Bengali-speaking Sen family on November 19,
1975 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. Her family consists of her
dad, Shubeer, a former Indian Air Force Wing Commander; mom, Subhra,
Jewelry Designer and owner of a Dubai-based store. She has two
siblings, a sister named Neelam, who is married to Nauman Malik, and a
brother named Rajeev. Subhra's dad was a poet.
She attended different schools in Jorhat, and Nagpur, but spend the
majority of her schooling days in the Air Force Golden Jubilee
Institute and Air Force Silver School in Delhi. She was regarded as a
tomboy and spent most of her times with boys. Since the schools were
Hindi medium, she could not speak English until she was 16 years of
age. She subsequently not only mastered English, but became an English
Honors student, and also obtained a degree in Journalism. Due to her
place of birth she can speak Urdu flawlessly.
Her first public appearance was at the Air Force Club Contest at the
age of 15. She did a few fashion shows thereafter. Then during 1994 she
decided to be a participant in Miss India beauty pageant, fully aware
that she was being pitted against the reigning favorite, Aishwarya Rai.
Sushmita took everyone by surprise when she was crowned Miss India
while Aishwarya had to content with being the First Runner-up. Both
beauties went on to win Miss Universe and Miss World titles
respectively. Ironically the final outfit for Miss Universe for
Sushmita was made by a little-known Meena Bazar tailor, and her mom.
It was during 1996 that she first appeared as herself in a Bollywood
movie titled 'Dastak'. Though the movie did not fare too well, she was
noticed and thus began her career on the silver screen. She has since
then portrayed herself in a variety of characters and also some 'item'
numbers.
Not considered a classic beauty and leading quite an unconventional
lifestyle she ended up in many relationships but did not marry anyone.
She wanted to be a mother and to adopt a baby girl, and name her Renee.
Since she is single, she had to fight a Court battle before she could
finally adopt Renee. Finally on 13 April 2000 she was given the
go-ahead to adopt her, even though the family-owned business in Dubai
was already re-named as 'Renee' quite ironically a year earlier on 13
April 1999.
Aarya(2020)as Aarya Sareen, Aarya, Aarya Sareen (2020-)
Where Next?(2023)as Sushmita Sen
Taali(2023)as Ganesh, Shreegauri sawant
Nirbaak(2015)as Woman
Iconic Gold Awards 2025(2025)as Self - Special Guest
Myntra Fashion Superstar(2019)as Jury
IMDb on the Scene - Interviews(2017)as Self
65th Miss Universe(2017)as Self - Judge
Comedy Nights with Kapil(2013)as Self
Koffee with Karan(2004)as Self
Mast(1999)as Self
