The Lady Elegant of Bollywood and Miss Universe of yesteryears, Sushmita Sen turns 35 today! She was the first Indian Woman to be crowned as Miss Universe. Quite interestingly, she shares her birthday with the Indian Actress, Miss Asia Pacific of yesteryears and a sex symbol of her era, Zeenat Aman.

Sen was born in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh on 19th November 1975 in a Bengali family, to Shubeer, a former Indian Air Force Wing Commander and Subhra, a Jewely Designer and owner of a Dubai-based store.

Sen 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.

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 be content with being the First Runner-up. Both beauties went on to win Miss Universe and Miss World titles respectively.

Sen made her first on screen appearance in Dastak (1996). Since then she appeared in a variety of roles, also playin item numbers for a couple of films like Fiza and Nayak. She won a couple of awards like Filmfare Award, IIFA Award, a Star Screen and a Zee Cine Award for Best Supporting Actress for Biwi No. 1 in 2000. She also won a Best Supporting Actree Zee Cine Award for Meghne Gulzar's directorial debut Filhaal in 2003. She has been honored with the Rajiv Gandhi Award for her achievement in Bollywood.

Sen always wanted to be a mother or a girl and name her Renee, and hence,  after fighting a tough battle with the Indian Judiciary, she adopted a Renee in April 2000. In 2009, she adopted another baby girl, Alisha on her birthday, which again, happened after a battle with the Judiciary. Though single, Sen has proved as a successful mother to her daughters as she is an actress to the Indian Film Industry.

FridayMoviez wishes Sushmita Sen a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!