Sushmita was born in a Bengali family to Shubeer Sen, a former Indian Air Force Wing Commander and Subhra Sen, worked as a fashion artist and jewelery designer. She has a brother, Rajeev Sen and a sister, Neelam Sen. She was born St.Theresa's hospital, Hyderabad, and grew up in New Delhi. She attended school at Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute studying English, and had career plans in journalism. She has been linked romantically to several people. In 2000, she adopted a girl, Renee, as a single mother.In 1994, at the age of eighteen, Sushmita won the title of Miss India beating out Aishwarya Rai. Sen represented India at the Miss Universe Pageant, 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 in the swimsuit, interview, and evening gown semi-final competitions respectively, 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 supposed rival at the Miss India pageant, Aishwarya Rai, went on to win the 1994 Miss World contest।
[www.wikipedia.org]
