Riya Sen is born on 24h January, 1981 in Kolkata. Her complete name is Riya Dev Varma.
She is the daughter of Moon Moon Sen, a former actress, and grand daughter of Suchitra Sen, a legend in Bengali cinema and she has a sister Raima Sen.
Her father Bharat Dev Varma is a member of the royal family of Tripura. Her paternal grandmother, Ila Devi, was the princess of Cooch Behar, whose younger sister Gayatri Devi was the Maharani of Jaipur. Her paternal grandmother Indira was the only daughter of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of Baroda. Riya's maternal great-grandfather Adinath Sen was a prominent Kolkata businessman, whose father Dinanath Sen - a relative of former Union Law Minister Ashoke Kumar Sen- was the Diwan or a Minister of the Maharaja of Tripura.
Riya completed her schooling at Loreto House and Rani Birla College, in Kolkata. Thereafter, she studied at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, and she took up jewellery designing as a hobby. She designs most of the clothes that she wears in films and commercials.
Riya is trained in Kathak and is still pursuing it under Vijayshree Chaudhury She is taking kick boxing lessons and has completed Level I of the 5 levels in belly dancing.
Riya was first recognised as a model when she performed in Falguni Pathak's music video Yaad Piya Ki Aane Lagi at the age of sixteen. Since then, she has appeared in music videos, television commercials, fashion shows, and on magazine covers.she has been a heart throbbing sensation throughout india and is known for her gorgeuos smile.she has one of the most beautiful faces in the whole cinema.
Riya first appeared as a child artist in the film Vishkanya in 1991, where she played the role of the young Pooja Bedi. At the age of 18, she did National Film Awards winning director Bharathiraja's Tamil film, Taj Mahal (2000), which did not achieve commercial success.
She make her Bollywood film debut in Love You Hamesha, opposite actor Akshaye Khanna; However, the film was stalled, and she finally made her debut in Style in 2001 a low budget sex comedy directed by N. Chandra.
Although films like Style and Jhankar Beats succeeded commercially, most of her later films have generated less revenue. A number of them remained unfinished. While many of her appearances have been item numbers and cameos, few of her leading roles have been in low budget films. Though she had small roles in Dil Vil Pyar Vyar (2002), Qayamat (2003) and Plan (2004), attention was drawn to her item numbers in all three, especially the one in Qayamat that featured her in a bubble-bath.
Besides this, she performed another item number in James (2005) on director-producer Ram Gopal Varma's behest, who has a history of casting aspirant actress models like Sameera Reddy, Isha Koppikar and Koena Mitra in similar roles. Furthermore, she took part in a dance number for Sajid Khan's Heyy Babyy (2007) that featured several mainstream Bollywood actresses.
Riya has, in addition to Bollywood films, appeared in Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and English films. Her film career began in the earnest with Tamil films such as Bharathi Raja's Taj Mahal, co-starring Manjoj Bharatiraja in the male lead, and Manoj Bhatnaghar's Good Luck, oppsite Prasanth. Both of the films failed commercially, and she had a brief reappearance in Tamil cinema only to perform in a dance number for N. Maharajan's Arasatchi.
In 2004, she was featured partially nude in leading Indian photographer Dabboo Ratnani's annual calendar, which is a major happening in the Indian glamor industry. A career highlight for the model, it led to a three year contract with Ratnani to feature her on his annual calendar. She is the only female face to be featured on the calendar in five consecutive years (2003–07).
Besides modeling, Riya has ventured into the advertisement world as well. A high point of her modeling career came in 2006, when she became the soft drink, Limca's brand ambassador, replacing Deepika Padukone. Her other notable assignments include Colgate, Dabur Vatika, Reliance Industries, Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate, and Nirma.
Riya has faced controversies such as a MMS clip with actor Ashmit Patel, her semi-nude photograph on photographer Dabboo Ratnani's annual calendar and her on-screen kisses in a conservative Indian film industry.
Shortly before the release of Silsiilay, in which she starred opposite her boyfriend Ashmit Patel, a 90 second video clip was circulated through Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) and the internet, showing the pair in compromising situations. This was one of a number of controversies that erupted when celebrities were caught in similar situations using cameraphones. Following this incident, the couple split up, although Riya denied that she was the girl in the MMS clip.
Riya's on screen performances have established her as a sex symbol and youth icon in India. Since entering the film industry, she has gained attention for wearing a bikini in Shaadi No. 1 and sharing on screen kisses with co-stars Ashmit Patel in Silsiilay and Sharman Joshi in Style, respectively. Such performances garnered attention because of the relatively conservative outlook of Indian cinema and her own statements about such practises.
Before becoming a film identity, she had a reputation for partying, which started at the age of fifteen. Riya's public persona is compared to her mother Moon Moon, who was seen as a sex symbol of her time, while her sister Raima is mostly compared their grandmother Suchitra.