Mira Nair (IAST: Mīrā Nāyar; born 15 October 1957) is an Indian-American filmmaker. She is known for directing independent dramas through her production company Mirabai Films. She began her career making documentaries, but went on to create feature films. She is well known for films that sometimes touch on political themes or controversial topics such as how racial tension and prejudice are depicted in Mississippi Masala. She has received two prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and four prizes from the Venice Film Festival as well as nominations for two BAFTA Awards and two César Awards. Her films have also received two Academy Award nominations.

Nair made her feature film debut directing the drama film Salaam Bombay! (1988), which received nominations for the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award for Best International Feature Film. Her next film was the romantic drama Mississippi Masala (1991), for which she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film.

She directed the comedy-drama Monsoon Wedding (2001), which won the Golden Lion at the 58th Venice International Film Festival; it was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best International Feature Film.

She grew up in India and later moved to the United States, where she attended Harvard University. She lived in Uganda with her husband for a few years, but currently resides in the U.S. She is married to Mahmood Mamdani and is the mother of Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City.

Mira Nair’s 1991 film Mississippi Masala earned $7.3 million, won Best Original Screenplay at Venice, and led her to meet her future husband, political scientist Mahmood Mamdani. Her biggest breakthrough came with Monsoon Wedding (2001), made for about $1.5 million and ultimately grossing over $30 million worldwide; its $13.9 million U.S. gross set a North American record for an Indian film until 2017, and it won her the Golden Lion—the first for a woman director. Celebrated by critics like Roger Ebert, the film cemented Nair’s reputation for crossing cultural boundaries. She went on to direct works such as Vanity Fair, The Namesake, and Disney’s Queen of Katwe (2016), which earned a 94% Rotten Tomatoes rating and featured her son, Zohran Mamdani—now New York City’s mayor—as music supervisor.

Mira Nair was born on 15 October 1957, in Rourkela, Orissa (now Odisha), India, the youngest of three children, and the only girl.

Her father, Amrit Lal Nair, was an officer of the Indian Administrative Service, and her mother, Praveen Nair, was a social worker. Her family is of Punjabi origin with roots in Delhi, and is Hindu. The family name "Nayyar" was changed by her grandfather, although one of her uncles continues to use it.

Nair grew up in a "colonial-style bungalow, with [a] spacious veranda and terracotta-tiled floor". Her father, Amrit, was a remote character, who was "not much fun", and her parents later (around 1990) separated, after years of tension and fighting. Nair appreciated Amrit's love of Persian poetry and song, but he drove his children hard, insisting that they "spend their time usefully". He also argued with her brothers, Vikram and Gautam, a lot, but being a girl, Mira was regarded as less important, and was allowed to just get on with doing what interested her. Praveen had a strong influence on the young Mira, particularly her independence, confidence, fearlessness, and social awareness. Nair did not directly challenge her father in the home, but in her early documentary films she attacked many of his attitudes, such as the hypocrisy of male ideas about "virtue" in India Cabaret (1985), and the Indian custom by which female fetuses were often aborted, in Children of Desired Sex (1987).