Miss Universe
In 1994, at the age of eighteen, Sushmita won the title of Miss India narrowly beating out Aishwarya Rai, who was the favorite to win the contest. Twenty-two girls took their application out from the contest once they learned that model Aishwarya Rai was participating for Miss India. Sushmita Sen was one of them but her mother gave her the courage to face the challenge. Interestingly, Aishwarya Rai won every title in the preliminary round. Ironically, both Sen and Rai were actually tied for the title. It was with a tie-breaking question that got Sen the chance to represent 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 respectively in the swimsuit, interview and evening gown competitions, 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.

Career
Sushmita became an actress. Her first movie, Dastak in 1996, where she played the victim of a stalker, didn't do well at the box office. Her subsequent movie Ratchagan in Tamil, was a huge hit[citation needed]. However, it was two years later that her appearance as Rupali in David Dhawan's movie Biwi No.1 won her the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award in 1999. The same year, she was also nominated for her role in Sirf Tum in the same category, making her an obvious choice for winner.

So far, her biggest hit has been the 2004 movie Main Hoon Na, in which she starred as Shahrukh Khan's love interest. Later on, she played a lawyer in Main Aisa Hi Hoon opposite Ajay Devgan. In 2005, she also starred in a remake of Cactus Flower, called Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya: Sen played the lead opposite Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. Her most recent movies include Karma, Confessions and Holi (2006) opposite Naomi Campbell, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007) and the recently announced Dulha Mil Gaya (2007) opposite Shahrukh Khan.