Born in Bombay, India, Ismail Merchant has lived and worked in Europe and the United States for most of his life. In 1961, one year after earning his MBA from NYU's Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Merchant produced his fIrst film, a theatrical short, which was nominated for an Academy Award and was an official entry at the Cannes Film Festival.

While en route to the Festival, Merchant met James Ivory, who agreed to form Merchant Ivory Productions in order to make English-language theatrical features in India for the international market. Merchant Ivory Productions has endured as one of the most productive collaborations in cinema, bringing forth such films as Shakespeare Wallah, A Room with a View, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, Howards End, The Remains of the Day, and Jefferson in Paris. The American release of The Golden Bowl in April of2001 marked the 40th anniversary of Merchant's career in film production, one that has already earned the Merchant Ivory team a place in The Guinness Book
of World Records for the longest partnership in independent cinema. The company's latest film,
Le Divorce, was released in 2003. They are currently in post-production on the film Heights, set
in New York City, with a young director, Chris Terrio. In addition to producing all of James Ivory's features and documentaries since 1963.

Merchant has directed a number of films and two television features

The first feature film he directed, In Custody, went on to win National Awards from the Government of India for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Costume, and Best Production Design. The Mystic Masseur, Merchant's latest work as a director, was released in the spring of 2002 and won the Best Screenplay award at the Mar del Plata film festival in Argentina. He will next direct Tina Turner in The Goddess, set in India and based on an original screenplay by Suketu Mehta. Merchant is a renowned chef and the author of a number of books on cuisine, including Ismail Merchant s Indian Cuisine, Ismail Merchant s Passionate Meals, and Ismail Merchant's Paris: Filming and Feasting in France.

His most recent autobiographical book is entitled, My Passage From India: A Filmmaker's Journey from Bombay to Hollywood and Beyond. In addition to the multitude of accolades Merchant has won in the world of film and literature, he is also an Honorary Doctor of Arts at Bard College and Wesleyan College at University of Illinois.

He has been honored by the Mayor of New York and the Maire de Paris, and he received the title of Commandeur de 1 Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the Ministry of Culture in France for his outstanding contribution to cinema. In 2002, the government of India bestowed upon Merchant the Padma Bhusan, the equivalent of a British knighthood, and in 2003 he was made an honorary fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Merchant has also received a distinguished alumni award from his alma mater, The Stern School of Business at New York University.