India's first Miss Universe - Sushmita Sen

Sushmita Sen was born on November 19, 1975 in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. She is a well-known Bollywood actress and was India's first Miss Universe in 1994.

Sushmita's father is a retired Indian Air Force officer; her mother Subhra Sen worked as a fashion artist and jewelery designer. She has one brother, Rajeev Sen, and a sister, Neelam Sen. Her sister married IT consultant Nauman Malik, famous personality billionaire.

Sushmita's mother tongue is Bengali. She was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh (DOB Nov, 19, 1975), but grew up in Delhi. She attended school at Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute in Delhi. In Delhi, she studied English and planned a career in journalism.

In 2000, she adopted a daughter, Renee, as a single mother.

In 1994, at the age of eighteen, Sushmita won the title of Miss India narrowly beating out Aishwarya Rai, who was the favorite to win the contest. In fact, both Sen and Rai were actually tied for the title. It was with a tie-breaking question that Sen won the rights to represent India at the Miss Universe Pageant, being held in Manila, Philippines.

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 resepctively in the swimsuit, interview and evening gown competitions, placing her in 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 biggest rival at the Miss India pageant, Aishwarya Rai, would go on to win the 1994 Miss World contest.

After her reign as Miss Universe, Sushmita became a Bollywood actress. Her first movie, Ratchagan in Tamil, was a huge hit. Her subsequent movies like Dastak in 1996, where she played the victim of a stalker, too didn't do well at the cinema. But her appearance as Rupali in David Dhawan's movie Biwi No.1 won her the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award in 1999.

So far, her biggest hit has been the 2004 movie Main Hoon Na, in which she starred as Shah Rukh 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 and essayed the role of Ingrid Bergman. Her most recent movies include Karma, Confessions and Holi (2006) opposite Naomi Campbell, Ram Gopal Varma Ke Sholay (2006) and the recently announced Dulha Mil Gaya (2006) opposite Shahrukh Khan.


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