Sunetra Sastry

Sunetra Sastry is an Indo -Anglican makeup artist, who has worked on the legendary comedy show ‘Black Adder’. She is best known for being the long-time first wife of world famous comedian Rowan Atkinson aka Mr. Bean.

Rowan Atkinson with his ex-wife Sunetra Sastry

Early Life

Sunetra Sastry was born in 1957, to an Indian father and an English mother. She grew up in the 1960s England. Sastry has stated that growing up in that era, she was subjected to racism almost daily due to her father’s culture. Furthermore, her mother was disowned by her own family because she married Sunetra’s father. Sastry later attempted to ask her mother about it; in response, she simply said that it was worth it.

After finishing high school, she attended a Beauty College in London, against the wishes of her parents. They firmly believed that it was not a real career and pushed her to consider nursing. However, they soon realized that it was her true passion and started to support her.

Career

In the early 1980s, she began to work as a make-up artist for BBC. She has worked as a makeup artist for many of Rowan Atkinson production, including Black Adder. After working on ‘Black Adder II’, Sastry served on the TV Movie ‘Smack and Thistle’ for the BBC in 1988.

Personal Life

Sunetra Sastry met Atkinson in the 1980s and married him in February 1990. They welcomed their first child, a son whom they named Benjamin, in 1993. Their daughter, Lily, was born two years later, in 1995. She eventually quit working and decided to focus on raising her children instead.

In 2014, Atkinson became involved in a relationship with actress Louise Ford. Sastry subsequently separated from him and they were divorced in November 2015. At the time of the split, Rowan and Sunetra were in the middle of building a £11million home in Oxfordshire.

Atkinson & Sastry’s beautiful daughter Lily Atkinson is an aspiring actress. In 2012 Lily became a viral sensation at a movie premiere with her parents. She’s appeared in two movies with her father – Johnny English Reborn (2011) and Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007). Previously, she starred in family film Tooth (2004).

In October 2017, it was reported that Atkinson’s daughter Lily had decided to not use her father’s surname any longer and adopted her mother’s maiden name.