Biography

Anoushka Shankar was born on the 9th June 1981 in London. At the age of nine, Anoushka began training on the sitar with her father, Ravi Shankar, and by the age of thirteen was giving her first public performances. Her first album, Anoushka, was released in 1998 and she has since released a further five studio albums. She is working on a new album, due for release in autumn 2011.

In 2003, Anoushka played the sitar and conducted the performances in Concert for George, a concert documentary commemorating the first anniversary of the passing of George Harrison. 2004 saw the release of Ancient Marks, a unique short film by Ethan Boehme, for which Anoushka composed and recorded the soundtrack. In the same year, she earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination from India's National Film Awards for her debut acting role in Dance Like a Man. She also played the sitar on the soundtrack to the 2006 film Water.

She divides her time between London, Delhi and California. In 2010, Anoushka married the British director Joe Wright, and is expecting their first child in spring 2011.

- IMDb mini biography by: Julia Gelpke

Anoushka Shankar is a British-Indian-American sitarist and composer renowned for bringing her distinctively emotional yet virtuosic playing style into an incredibly diverse range of musical genres. Among her accolades are seven Grammy nominations, a House of Commons Shield, two Eastern Eye ACTA Awards and a Songlines Best Artist Award. She began studying the sitar as a child under her father, the legendary Ravi Shankar, and made her performing debut aged thirteen. Since releasing her first solo album aged seventeen, she has made 9 solo albums and numerous collaborative recordings whilst maintaining a rigourous global performing schedule over the last two decades.

Anoushka Shankar has turned her energy towards composing for film and television, commissioned by the British Film Institute to create a new score for the iconic 1928 classic silent film Shiraz, and co-composing Mira Nair's adaptation of A Suitable Boy for BBC1 and Netflix. She is currently Associate Artist at London's iconic Southbank Centre.

Anoushka is recognised for her impassioned support of women's rights and social justice. She frequently works with organisations such as the UNHCR and Help Refugees to raise funds and awareness for the refugee crisis. She has been outspoken about her experiences as a woman and a survivor of abuse, throwing her weight behind campaigns such as One Billion Rising. In 2020 she was announced as the inaugural President of the F-List: a UK database created to help bridge the gender-gap in music. She began studying the sitar as a child under her father, the legendary Ravi Shankar, and made her performing debut aged thirteen. Since releasing her first solo album aged seventeen, she has made 9 solo albums and numerous collaborative recordings whilst maintaining a rigourous global performing schedule over the last two decades.

- IMDb mini biography by: Management