At Miss Universe, Sushmita ranked third overall in the preliminaries, right behind preliminary winner Miss Colombia Carolina Gomez, and Miss Greece Rea Totounzi, who ranked second but won the preliminary swimsuit and evening gown competitions. Sushmita went on to place second, fifth and third in the swimsuit, interview, and evening gown semi-final competitions respectively, placing her in third place behind Miss Colombia and Miss Venezuela Minorka Mercado. All three women went on to be the final three contestants. In the end, the judges placed their votes on Sushmita, making her the first woman from India to become Miss Universe.
Sushmita's rival at the 1994 Miss India pageant, Aishwarya Rai, went on to win the 1994 Miss World contest.
After her reign as Miss Universe was over, Sushmita became an actress. Her first movie, Dastak was in 1996, where she played the victim of a stalker, that didn't do well at the box office. Her subsequent Tamil film Ratchagan, was a huge hit However, it was two years later that her appearance as Rupali in David Dhawan's movie Biwi No.1 won her the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award in 1999. The same year, she was also nominated for her role in Sirf Tum in the same category, making her an obvious choice for winner. She received critical acclaim and box office success for film Aankhen.
So far, her biggest hit has been the 2004 movie Main Hoon Na, in which she starred as Shahrukh Khan's love interest. Later on, she played a lawyer in Main Aisa Hi Hoon opposite Ajay Devgan. In 2005, she also starred in a remake of Cactus Flower, called Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya: Sen played the lead opposite Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. Her most recent movies include Karma, Confessions and Holi (2006) opposite Naomi Campbell, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007) Dulha Mil Gaya (2007) opposite Shahrukh Khan.
It has been reported that Sushmita will portray the slain Pakistan Peoples Party leader Benazir Bhutto in a film co-produced by Zaid Aziz and Henna Rai of Karachi production firm Vox Vision and Leicester-based Sum Films respectively. Tentatively titled "Benazir Bhutto: The Movie", the flick will be shot at various locations in Pakistan, the US, Britain and Dubai, where Bhutto had spent years as a student and later as a political leader in exile. When asked Sushmita about playing this big role, she excitedly told, “Yes, I am keen to play the role.”
