Manisha B Koirala was born on 16th August, 1970 in Kathmandu, Nepal. Koirala has primarily worked in Hindi cinema, though she has appeared in several Telugu, Tamil films as well. She is also an accomplished Bharatnatyam and Manipuri dancer.
Her family is one of the leading political parties in Nepal. Her gradfather B.P. Koirala was Prime Minister of Nepal during the late 50s-early 60s, while two of her paternal grandfather's brothers, Girja Prasad Koirala, and M.P. Koirala were also Nepali Prime Ministers during the 1990s.
Manisha grew up with her paternal grandmother in Varanasi, India. She studied in Vasant Kanya Mahavidhyalay. Then she re-located to New Delhi and was enrolled in Army Public School. After completing her school, Manisha had planned to study medicine and become a doctor.
Instead of becoming a doctor, fate led her to modeling, and then in 1989, she made her film debut as an actress in a Nepali movie Pheri Bhetaula.
Manisha Koirala made her Bollywood debut in 1991 with Subhash Ghai's top-grossing drama, Saudagar. She went on to collaborate with some of the most prominent Indian filmmakers of her times, and throughout the 1990s, was one of the best-known actresses in India, mostly recognised for her critically acclaimed performances.
She starred in a number of unsuccessful films during 1992-1993 until Vidhu Vinod Chopra's love saga 1942: A Love Story (1994) and Mani Ratnam's Tamil drama Bombay (1995) came out. Her performance in the latter was particularly appreciated and won her the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance. In 1995, in the movie Akele Hum Akele Tum, opposite Aamir Khan she played a woman who is forced to choose between her husband and her career.
She was seen with Nana Patekar in Agni Sakshi and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Khamoshi: A Musical film released in 1996. Sanjay Leela Bhansali's directorial debut, Khamoshi: The Musical. The film saw her playing the role of Annie, a caring daughter to deaf parents. Her performance was highly acclaimed, and won her a second consecutive Filmfare Best Performer Award, as well as a Star Screen of the biggest hits of the year.
In 2002, she starred in Ram Gopal Verma's Company opposite Ajay Devgan, she won her third Filmfare Best Performer Award for her Best Performance.
Her release in 2002, Ek Choti Si Love Story got caught up in a lot of controversy as Manisha Koirala accused the director of using a body double without her permission. She continued to experiment as an actress and was seen in Escape from Taliban (2003) which was based on a true story.
In 2003, her movie Escape From Taliban, won her the BFJA Best Actress Award.
After studying film making in New York, she directed the movie Paisa Vasool (2004) in which she starred along with Sushmita Sen. The movie had an average run. This was probably the first ever chick-flick in Indian cinema in that it did not have a male lead nor a love story.
In December 2009, she served as the Jury member in the fifth edition of Dubai International Film Festival.
She is an ambassador for UNFPA and is vocal about the causes she fights for like women’s rights.
She acted in Telugu, Tamil and Bengali movies also.
Manisha Koirala has dated many men like Nana Patekar, Rahul Roy, Crispin Conroy, Cecil Anthony and Christopher Dorris. She was reportedly engaged in 2001 to Crispin Conroy, the former Australian ambassador to Nepal, but they broke up later. There were also reports of her dating American speaker and author, Christopher Dorris, but that relationship too ended.
On June 19, 2010, Manisha Koirala married Samrat Dahal in a traditional ceremony held in Kathmandu. They met through the online social networking website, Facebook.
