Devika Bhise

Devika Bhise at a Q&A at TIFF in 2015

Bhise was born and raised in Manhattan, New York City, and is of Indian descent.[3] She attended The Brearley School, an all-girl private school in Manhattan, and Johns Hopkins University, where she won the Hodson Trust Scholarship and was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow under the mentorship of John Astin.[4] While at Johns Hopkins University, she acted in Ira Hauptman's play, The Partition, based on the life of Ramanujan, which contributed to her being cast in the film years later.[5]

Devika Bhise at the global premiere of The Man Who Knew Infinity at Roy Thompson Hall at TIFF

Bhise was cast in her first film, The Accidental Husband, directed by Griffin Dunne, in tenth grade.[6] While in high school, she also directed a documentary film Hijras: The Third Gender, which won the award for Best Social Documentary at the New York Independent Film Festival in 2009.[7] After graduating from Johns Hopkins, Bhise was cast in Partial Comfort's Off-Broadway production of And Miles To Go, a play written by Chad Beckim, directed by Hal Brooks.[8] She played small parts in television series such as Elementary and One Bad Choice until she was cast in The Man Who Knew Infinity with Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons. She was seen next as the lead role in The Warrior Queen of Jhansi, the biopic on Indian queen Rani Lakshmibai, acting opposite Derek Jacobi and Rupert Everett.[9] Bhise also co-wrote the script. She also performed in 'Impossible Monsters' which also starred Chris Henry Coffey and Geofrey Owens in 2020 as a university student being part of a study on sleep paralysis.

Devika Bhise at the Indo-American Film Festival in 2016

Bhise is part of New York's New Abolitionists, a group of New Yorkers "united by our commitment to ending human trafficking, in New York State and globally",[10] alongside Christie Brinkley, Michael Bloomberg, Tina Fey, Seth Meyers, Lee Daniels, Preet Bharara, Diane von Furstenberg, Gloria Steinem, Meryl Streep, and others.

She is the daughter of dancer and director Swati Bhise and Bharat Bhise. Bhise currently resides in New York City with her Teacup Yorkshire Terrier, Cleopatra.[11]