Tannishtha Chatterjee is an Indian film actress. She is best known in the West for her performance in the British film Brick Lane (2007), the film adaptation of Monica Ali's best selling novel of the same name. She was nominated for the British Independent Film Awards as the best actress for Brick Lane. Her other notable roles have been in Academy Award-winning German director Florian Gallenberger...Tannishtha Chatterjee is an Indian film actress. She is best known in the West for her performance in the British film Brick Lane (2007), the film adaptation of Monica Ali's best selling novel of the same name. She was nominated for the British Independent Film Awards as the best actress for Brick Lane. Her other notable roles have been in Academy Award-winning German director Florian Gallenberger's film Shadows of Time, Road, Movie with Abhay Deol, Dekh Indian Circus, for which she won the National Film award and Marathi film Doctor Rakhmabai amongst many others. Chatterjee was born in Pune, Maharashtra 23 November 1980, to a Bengali Hindu family. Her father was a business executive and her mother was a political science professor. Her family traveled and lived out of the country for some time and then moved to Delhi. She majored in Chemistry at Delhi University and then went to the National School of Drama. Thereafter she worked in India and Europe with well-known theatre directors. Chatterjee's performance in the German film, Shadows of Time earned her critical acclaim. It took her to international film festivals like Toronto and Berlin. Thereafter she worked on an Indo-French coproduction Hava Aney Dey (Let the Wind Blow) directed by Partho Sen-Gupta which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and won the best film award at the Durban International Film Festival among others. Following these, Chatterjee acted in films like Strings, Kasturi and Bibar. The Bengali film Bibar won her critical acclaim and best actress awards. Her work in the British film Brick Lane directed by Sarah Gavron gave her international exposure and recognition. Chatterjee was nominated for the British independent film awards along with actresses like Judi Dench and Anne Hathaway. Chatterjee played a major role in Bhopal: Prayer for Rain in which she is starred with Martin Sheen. She was the lead in Road, Movie with Abhay Deol. Chatterjee is often referred by the Indian media as the Princess of Parallel Cinema. Chatterjee was referred by the Indian media as the chief flag bearer at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. She won the best actress award at the Miaac New York Film Festival for her film Bombay Summer. Referred to as one of the most international of Indian actors, she is the lead in Lucy Liu's film based on the book Half the Sky.