Nandana Sen

Nandana Dev Sen is an Indian-born American actress, screenwriter, children's author and child-rights activist. Her first film role in Bollywood was Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black (2005), starring Rani Mukherjee and Amitabh Bachchan, in which she played the role of Rani's 17-year-old younger sister. After teaming up on a succession of projects with Indian directors including Ram Gopal Varma and Ketan Mehta, Sen signed for one of the principal roles in the jarring, terrorist-themed American drama The War Within (2005), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and, in the process, began to cultivate a reputation for being drawn to offbeat, challenging and demanding roles, often with a social or political theme. Early life Sen is the daughter of Nobel Laureate and Bharat Ratna economist Amartya Sen and Padma Shri awardee Nabanita Dev Sen. Nandana was born in New Delhi. Her elder sister Antara Dev Sen is a journalist. Nandana spent few years of her childhood in Delhi and London. After her parents separated, she and her sibling Antara moved to Kolkata with their mother Nabanita. After completing her schooling in Kolkata, She went to United States for further studies and completed her BA and Master's in English literature from Harvard University. Nandana Sen's first piece of writing was published when she was a child in the magazine Sandesh, selected by Satyajit Ray. She spent her formative years in various cities across Europe, India and America. Education Nandana Sen studied literature at Harvard University, where she was awarded the Detur Prize in her first year for topping her class, and thereafter won both the John Harvard Scholarship and the Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Award for Academic Achievement of the Highest Distinction. As a Junior, she was elected early into the academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa. Subsequently, Sen studied Film Producing at the Peter Stark Producing Program at the USC Film School. She wrote and directed various short films, including her thesis film "Arranged Marriage" which was shown at multiple film festivals. As an actor, Nandana trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, New York, as well as the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London.