Shyamalan was born in Mahé, India, a town in the Union Territory of Pondicherry. His father, Dr. Nelliyattu C. Shyamalan, is a Malayali neurologist from Mahé and a JIPMER graduate; his mother, Dr. Jayalakshmi, a See more

Film
Shyamalan made his first film, the semi-autobiographical drama Praying with Anger, while still a student at NYU, using money borrowed from family and friends. He wrote and directed his second movie, Wide Awake See more

Rolling Stone wrote that The Sixth Sense gave Shyamalan the reputation of "the guy who makes the scary movies with a twist". In 2008, Shyamalan said it was a common misperception that "all my movies have twist endings, or that they're all scary. All my movies are … See more

SyFy Channel hoax
In 2004, Shyamalan was involved in a media hoax with SyFy Channel, which was eventually … See more

While working on his film The Happening, Shyamalan developed an interest in improving the delivery of education in American schools. … See more

Shyamalan married Bhavna Vaswani, a fellow student whom he met at New York University. The couple have three daughters, … See more

In 2008, Shyamalan was honored with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India. Shyamalan was the Jury President of the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival See more