Riya Sen

Profile Overview

Riya Sen (Bengali pronunciation: [rija ʃen]; born Riya Dev Varma; 24 January 1981), now known as Riyaa senn is an Indian actress and model who predominantly appears in Hindi, Bengali, English, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Odia films.
Born to actress Moon Moon Sen and Bharat Dev Varma, Sen comes from a royal background. Her father hails from the royal family of the erstwhile Tripura State. He was the son of Ila Devi, a princess of Cooch Behar State and nephew of Gayatri Devi, Maharani of Jaipur State. Sen's grandmother Suchitra Sen was a veteran actress. She began her acting career when she was five years old, playing her mother's daughter on screen for the first time. Later in 1991 she worked as a child actress in the film Vishkanya. Her first commercial success in her film career was with Style, a 2001 Hindi low-budget comedy directed by N. Chandra. Some of her other notable films include producer Pritish Nandy's musical film, Jhankaar Beats (2003) in Hinglish, and Malayalam horror film Ananthabhadram (2005). She won the Star Guide Award as best actress for her performance in Noukadubi.
Sen was first recognised as a model when she performed in Falguni Pathak's music video Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi at the age of seventeen in 1998. Since then, she has appeared in music videos, television advertisements, fashion shows, and on magazine covers. Sen has worked as an activist and appeared in an AIDS awareness music video with the aim of dispelling popular myths about the disease. She also helped raise funds for paediatric eye-care and underprivileged children. Riya has been granted an O-1 visa to the United States for her extraordinary abilities.