Somy Ali

Biography

Somy Ali is a former Bollywood actress of early 1990s. She has her own clothing line, So-Me Designs apart from running a non profit organization, No More Tears.

Born to an Iraqi mother, Tehmina and a Pakistani father, Madan, she has two sisters, Hina and Huma and one younger brother, Mohammed. After studying at the Convent of Jesus & Mary High School in Karachi until the age of 7, she, her mother and brother re-located to Florida U.S.A, before moving to Mumbai, India to focus on her acting career, where she appeared in 9 movies and had several modeling assignments.

In January 1999, Somy returned to the U.S.A to obtain a Bachelor?s degree in Psychology. She attended Nova Southeastern University in Florida and graduated in three years? time. It was during this time that she became very interested in journalism and decided to attend the University of Miami to obtain a Master?s degree in print journalism. During the mid-90s, she dated Bollywood actor Salman Khan. They ended their relationship in 1999.


In February 2003 while attending the University of Miami, Somy developed an interest in documentary films, therefore left university to attend the New York Film Academy. She graduated with a degree in film making, direction, script writing, and editing. Some of her first projects included short films on abortion, domestic violence, and teenage suicide.

Ali has been involved with women?s rights issues in South Asia. She is working towards bringing the plight of rape and domestic violence victims to the media?s attention. Somy has written articles about Dr. Shazia Khalid, Sonia Naz, and Mukhtaran Mai. All of these women are victims of rape and have fought and are still fighting for justice in Pakistan. "My goal is to help all of these women and make sure that every girl/woman in my country and universally is able to obtain an education and has her basic human rights," says Somy. Revenue from her clothing line, So-Me Designs is donated to her non-profit No More Tears, which was founded in 2006.

In 2011, Ali was honored with the American Heritage Award from the American Immigration Council for her work with No More Tears