Antara Biswas, known professionally as Monalisa, is an Indian actress born on 21 November 1982 in Kolkata, West Bengal, into a Bengali Hindu family. She attended Julien Day School on Elgin Road, South Kolkata, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sanskrit from Ashutosh College, University of Calcutta. Before acting, she worked as a Guest Relations Executive in restaurants and hotels in Kolkata. Her screen name Monalisa was suggested by her uncle. Her acting career began with Odia music videos and film appearances including Hamam Phi Amsterdam (1998) and Jai Sriram (2005, Odia). She made her Bhojpuri debut in Bhole Shankar alongside Mithun Chakraborty and Manoj Tiwari — which became a major commercial success and established her as one of Bhojpuri cinema's leading stars. Over the following two decades she appeared in over 150 films across Bhojpuri, Bengali, Odia, Hindi, Kannada, and Telugu, with notable Bhojpuri titles including Tauba Tauba, Jab We Met, Sasura Bada Paisawala, and Monalisa (2010). She transitioned to Hindi television with the supernatural thriller Nazar (Star Plus, 2018–19), playing the primary antagonist Mohana Rathod — a shape-shifting daayan — a role that brought her a massive new national audience. In October 2016, she entered Bigg Boss 10 on Colors TV. On 17 January 2017 — with 65 days still to go in the season — she married her long-time partner, Bhojpuri actor Vikrant Singh Rajpoot, in a formal wedding ceremony inside the Bigg Boss house conducted by a pandit and broadcast to millions, creating one of reality TV's most watched weddings in India. She was eliminated the following week, finishing sixth. She and Vikrant appeared on Smart Jodi (Star Plus, 2022) and she participated in The 50 (2026).

Being one of Bhojpuri cinema's highest-paid and most in-demand actresses with over 150 film credits; her debut in the Bhojpuri blockbuster Bhole Shankar alongside Mithun Chakraborty and Manoj Tiwari; her popular Hindi TV role as the supernatural shape-shifter Mohana Rathod in Nazar (Star Plus, 2018–19); getting married to Bhojpuri actor Vikrant Singh Rajpoot inside the Bigg Boss 10 house on 17 January 2017 — one of the most memorable moments in the show's history; finishing sixth in Bigg Boss 10 (2016–17); participating in The 50 (2026).

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