All About M. Night Shyamalan's Daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan

M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter Ishana Night Shyamalan is a film director like him

M. Night Shyamalan sensed his middle daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan, had a keen interest in movies and would one day become a filmmaker, but he didn’t let any excitement at the prospect of her following in his footsteps scare her off.

Instead, he made sure to let Ishana’s natural instincts about movies lead the way when they watched films together.

“I knew she would be a filmmaker, but I never pushed her into it,” he told The New York Times in a 2021 joint interview with Ishana. “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.”

Ishana was born to M. Night and his wife, Bhavna, whom he married in 1993 after they met at New York University. Now, Ishana is making her own way with her movie The Watchers, a horror film starring Dakota Fanning, which premiered in June 2024.

"[Ishana] has always made me very proud,” M. Night wrote on Instagram in February 2024 while sharing the film’s trailer. “And even better than making a dazzling film, she is a wonderful person.”

Here’s everything to know about M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan.

She’s the middle child of three girls

Ishana is the middle child of her family, nestled between older sister Saleka and younger sister Shivani.

While Shivani is a bit more private, Saleka is also in the entertainment industry — as an R&B singer. Saleka, who goes by her first name only as a performer, released her debut album Seance in May 2023 and has tapped Ishana to direct several of her music videos.

In 2021, Ishana shared some behind-the-scenes tidbits on Instagram from shooting a music video for Saleka’s song “Graffiti,” adding some complimentary words for her sister.

"This was a special one to direct," she wrote, in part, in the post's caption.

“This song is written and performed so beautifully by @saleka,” she added later in the message. “It illustrates the experience of so many women. It was an honor to shoot the visuals alongside such a powerful piece.”

M. Night introduced her to horror movies from a young age

The iconic horror director raised his three daughters to be movie buffs, hosting movie nights that Ishana told The New York Times were “sacred” in their home.

Horror movies were also a constant, with M. Night instilling in Ishana a love of the genre that he’s made his mark in from a young age.

“From the time I was able to watch a movie, we were watching horror movies,” Ishana told Variety in 2021. “I remember in my elementary school in the library, I would come in every time and they would say, ‘We have a new scary story for you.’ I formed a sense of identity based on that when I was pretty young."

She first showed off her directing skills on Servant

Ishana got her first directing credits on the Apple TV+ show Servant, executive-produced by M. Night but she she wasn’t sure about working on the project in the beginning — until her dad stepped in and encouraged her.

“I'd seen Ishana's short films, I'd seen her writing, she was going to NYU's Tisch School where I went, and I saw this opportunity,” he told Entertainment Weekly of convincing her daughter to take a semester off and work with him on the show. “I just had an instinct that these were the right episodes for her. She was humble and worried a little bit."

Once she got started, Ishana went from directing a few episodes in season 2 to growing into a larger role of the show’s main writer and director.

“It was astonishing. We ended up relying on her,” M. Night told PEOPLE in 2023. “Over those three years of growth for her — both for her and us — it was a trial by fire, and it worked out. It was something else ... I couldn't be more proud of her and admire her."

She served as second unit director on M. Night’s movie Old

Once she directing experience under her belt, Ishana was once again convinced by her dad to work on his next project together. Except this time, he wanted her to be the second unit director on his 2021 movie Old, a major job that required her to film several scenes from the movie while her dad focused on other parts.

She handled the job like a pro, and the whole shoot turned into a sweet way to bond for the father-daughter duo who often had dinner together after a day of shooting, an experience M. Night described in a promotional video for the movie on Instagram as having "made me feel like I never left home."

“I essentially grew up on sets, grew up looking over my dad’s shoulder, and this is the first time we get to actually work together,” she said in the same clip. “It’s been such a special experience for us.”

She wrote and directed The Watchers

The Watchers marked Ishana's directorial debut. While at the movie's New York City premiere in June 2024, she shared what M. Night told her before pursuing filmmaking.

"He said at the very beginning, he was like, 'If you have any question that this is what you wanna do, don't do it. It's hard, and you need to be sure that you can't survive without it,' " Ishana told PEOPLE. "I always took that very seriously."

She knows her last name brings high expectations — and she welcomes the pressure

Ishana didn’t let her dad’s legacy as one of the greatest horror directors of all time keep her from venturing into the genre. If anything, carrying her father’s famous last name made her want to prove herself even more.

"There are certain expectations the last name brings. But I love that, because it's something for me to knock down,” she told The New York Times in 2021. “Hopefully, I put my own artistic stamp on what I create."

Ishana has, however, noted the cyclical nature of seeing her dad direct when she was a child, only to go on to work on sets herself.

"I grew up on sets, watching over my dads shoulder as he directed. For the first time it went the other way around," she wrote in a June 2021 post on Instagram, alongside one photo of herself on set with her father in his 2006 film Lady in the Water and another that showed M. Night with her as she directed an episode of Servant in 2020.

M. Night is a proud dad

M. Night often voices what a proud dad he is, sharing encouraging words and promoting Ishana’s projects on Instagram.

One especially sweet post came when Ishana’s movie The Watchers was announced. M. Night proudly shared the news, adding a throwback picture of a young Ishana sitting on his lap while he was in a director’s chair.

“I’ll come visit your set now @ishy_night,” the director captioned the February 2023 post.

He was also present when Ishana started filming the movie in Dublin, and shared a picture of them on set to congratulate her on the momentous occasion.

“I’m so moved and inspired by her. She leads everyone with grace and creative fire,” he wrote, in part, of his daughter in the post's caption.

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