A native New Yorker, Monisha Shiva is an actor, dancer, choreographer, and painter.  Growing up in the Empire State, she developed an acute sense of empathy for all people and their stories.  This love for the human spirit is the driving force for her love for acting.

She studied acting at the William Esper Studios and Studio 5 for 4 years, where she fine-tuned her performance skills.  A dancer for 17 years, Monisha first developed her technique through two forms of classical Indian dance – Bharat Natyam and Kathak.  This fueled her passion of all dance – Bollywood, Jazz, Samba...

She appears in major motion pictures, such as The Guru, Cosmopolitan, and Karma, Confessions & Holi as well as films by independent artists. She performed in the New York theater productions of Rats and I, Kreon.  Recently, she is especially proud of playing the role of Fatima in the Domestic Crusaders at the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe in NYC, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and the Gerald W. Lynch Theater in NYC.  The Domestic Crusaders is a critically acclaimed play, recently published by McSweeneys, about a modern Muslim Pakistani-American family.

An avid world traveler, Monisha believes it is important for women to experience their own mobility in this world!  In December 2011, she traveled for 3 months by herself to Thailand, India and best of all Burma!