Mumbai, May 21 : Celebrating 32 years of her historic Miss Universe win in 1994, Bollywood actress and former beauty queen Sushmita Sen on Thursday shared a note filled with gratitude and gave a special shoutout to the Philippines, where she was crowned.

Sushmita shared a picture of herself flaunting her iconic smile while she was in a bus going towards her aircraft.

She wrote on Instagram: â??Grateful for the smile that never left me for 32 years & counting!!! This feeling of being blessed!! You are the reason!!! #happy32ndanniversary #India #missuniverse1994 Mahal kita #philippines Forever Cherished!! I love you guys beyondâ?¦.#duggadugga Yours truly.â??

Sushmita was just 18 when she won the Miss India contest in 1994, which helped her earn the right to compete at the Miss Universe the same year. She had appeared as one of the judges of Miss Universe 2016.

After being crowned as the Miss Universe, Sushmita ventured into the Hindi cinema in 1996, with the thriller Dastak, in which she played the victim of a stalker, played by Sharad Kapoor. In 1998, she played a low-profile reporter opposite Sunny Deol in Zor.

The 50-year-old actress is the mother of two adopted daughters. At the age of 24, she adopted her first daughter, Renee Sen, in 2000, while her second daughter, Alisah, joined the family in 2010.

On the work front, Sushmita was last seen in Aarya 3, an Indian crime-thriller drama television series by Ram Madhvani. The show stars Sushmita Sen in the title role and is based on the Dutch drama series Penoza.

The series is about Aarya, an independent woman who seeks to protect her family and joins a mafia gang to get revenge for her husband's murder. Recently, the show has been nominated for the International Emmy Awards for best Drama series.

She has also worked in films such as Biwi No.1, Sirf Tum, Filhaal, Aankhen, Main Hoon Na, Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?, Aarya, and Taali, where she portrayed transgender activist Shreegauri Sawant in the miniseries, which was released in 2023.

/IANS