Mira Nair b. 15 October, 1957
Nair is an American-Indian director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Rourkela, Odisha, India, Nair eventually moved to Delhi. After a year of university in Delhi she decided to further her education by applying to western schools and applied to and was accepted to Harvard.
At Harvard Nair was originally interested in acting but eventually switched her focus to filmmaking. At Harvard Nair made a number of student documentaries that focused on Indian culture and subjects. Though her documentaries were well received Nair began to work on her first feature film, Salaam Bombay!, about children living in the streets in India, in 1983. The film was finished and released in 1988. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where Nair won the Camera d’or, the award for the best directorial debut. The film was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.
Nair followed with the American indie film Mississippi Masala starring Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival In Competition and Nair was awarded prizes for her direction and writing.
Nair continued to work steadily as a director throughout the ‘90s working mostly in America. In 2001 she premiered her film Monsoon Wedding a romance drama set in India. The film premiered In Competition at the Venice International Film Festival where it won the Golden Lion (the highest prize available). Nair was only the third woman and second Indian director to win the prize. The film was a financial and critical success and went on to earn BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Best Foreign Language Film.
After the success of Monsoon Wedding, Nair worked on more high profile films like Vanity Fair, starring Reese Witherspoon, Amelia, starring Hillary Swank, and Queen of Katwe, starring Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo.
Over the course of her career she has directed 10 feature films, 4 shorts in anthology films and 5 TV films.
