M. Night Shyamalan is one of Hollywood’s most influential horror filmmakers, but his eldest daughter, Ishana Shyamalan, is making her own impact on the genre. Ishana’s upcoming film, The Watchers, includes an A-list cast, and her father produced the movie. While the Devil director is proud of Ishana, he is also a father to two other daughters with his wife, Bhavna Vaswani. Learn more about M. Night’s kids below!
Ishana Shyamalan
The eldest-born sister of the Shymalans has been working hard at her craft as a filmmaker. During a January 2021 interview with The New York Times, Ishana and M. Night spoke about her journey while following in her dad’s footsteps.
“I knew she would be a filmmaker, but I never pushed her into it,” the Split director insisted. “We’d watch a movie, and she would really connect with what we were watching. She was able to discern what was exceptional about what we had watched.”
In fact, the idea behind M. Night’s film Old derived from a Father’s Day gift he received from his children.
“It’s an obscure graphic novel,” he explained. “This book gave me the opportunity to work through things like my parents’ getting older, and how I have a photo of Ishana on my lap during Unbreakable, and now, she’s standing next to me on set. That’s what the movie is about.”
Since Ishana is dealing with the pressure of living up to her father, she explained that there are “certain expectations the last name brings.”
“But I love that because it’s something for me to knock down,” she pointed out. “Hopefully, I put my own artistic stamp on what I create. Of course there are benefits. I was lucky to be born into a life where I have the resources to make what I want to make, something that not all women of color have.”
When it comes to her new Dakota Fanning-led horror, The Watchers — which is scheduled to premiere on June 7, 2024 — Ishana wrote and directed the flick. In terms of how her filmmaking differs from that of her dad’s, M. Night previously pointed out to Entertainment Weekly that her past film work exemplifies her distinct style.
“She has slightly more of a fantasy bend than I do,” he said. “She speaks in bolder colors than I do. The camera is more canted or more grotesque in showing someone scarier.”
Saleka
Unlike her dad and older sister, Saleka broke into the music business. Since 16, she has written songs and performed music, releasing her first studio album, Seance, in 2022.
Shivani
The youngest child in the family has attended some of her dad’s red carpet premieres, including for his 2021 movie, Old. At the time, Shivani was photographed wearing a stunning blue dress.