Manisha Koirala

Manisha Koirala is a Nepalese actress who works across Indian cinema—predominantly Hindi, with Tamil and Malayalam credits—and has emerged as one of the most recognizable and highest-paid performers of her era. Born 16 August 1970 into the Koirala political dynasty, daughter of Prakash Koirala and granddaughter of former Prime Minister B. P. Koirala, she made her acting debut with the Nepali film Pheri Bhetaula (1989) before crossing into Indian cinema with the drama Saudagar (1991). Her breakthrough came through commercial successes: Bombay (1995), Agni Sakshi (1996), Indian (1996), Gupt: The Hidden Truth (1997), Kachche Dhaage (1999), Mudhalvan (1999), and Company (2002). She earned critical praise for nuanced roles—a naive girl in 1942: A Love Story (1994), an ambitious wife in Akele Hum Akele Tum (1995), the hearing daughter of deaf-mute parents in Khamoshi: The Musical (1996), a terrorist in Dil Se.. (1998), and a mistreated woman in Lajja (2001). By the 2010s, she gravitated toward unconventional and art-house work, including the survival drama Escape From Taliban (2003), the Malayalam psychological thriller Elektra (2010), and the anthology I Am (2010). In 2012, diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer, she stepped away from acting for year-long treatment and recovered by mid-2014. She returned with the coming-of-age film Dear Maya (2017) and portrayed actress Nargis in Sanju (2018), followed by the Netflix anthology Lust Stories (2018) and the period drama Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar (2024). As an actress, she performs in films across multiple languages and genres. Her honors include three Filmfare Awards, one Filmfare Awards South, one Filmfare OTT Award, and the Government of Nepal's Order of Gorkha Dakshina Bahu (2001). Beyond cinema, she served as UN Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund in India (1999) and Nepal (2015), participated in relief efforts following the April 2015 Nepal earthquake, and co-authored Healed: How Cancer Gave Me a New Life, a memoir of her cancer journey. As a Leo, she channels determination and creative resilience; her Life Path number 5 reflects her adaptability across genres and continents.