Dian Sastrowardoyo
actor, producer, director, philanthropist, mother of two
Born in Jakarta, March 16, 1982, Dian Paramita Sastrowardoyo started her career in entertainment industry at the age of 14, when she won the beauty contest Gadis Sampul, a cover girl competition sponsored by a popular teen magazine in Indonesia.
Dian took part as a cast member of Bintang Jatuh (Shooting Star, director Rudy Soedjarwo, 2000) but it was her role as a teenage refugee in the film Pasir Berbisik (Whispering Sands, director Nan Achnas, 2001) that won her many prestigious awards including the 2002 Deauville Asian Film Festival in France for Best Actress as well as the 2002 Singapore International Film Festival.
Her iconic role as Cinta (also the Indonesian word for ‘love’), a popular teenage girl who falls in love with a cool and introverted boy in the film Ada Apa Dengan Cinta? (What’s Up with Love? Rudy Soedjarwo, 2002), gained her even wider recognition from critics and audiences alike. For her role in this movie, Dian won best actress in Indonesian Film Festival 2004
For her role as a timid-ticket-girl-turned-supermodel in Ungu Violet (Purple Violet, director Rako Prijanto, 2005), Dian won a special jury award for the Most Promising Actress at the 50th Asia Pasific Film Festival 2005 in Kuala Lumpur.
In 2008, Dian was involved in the production of short film Drupadi (director Riri Riza), an interpretation of the Indian epic, Mahabharata. The film has a unique format, a mixture of acting, dance, music and theater. Aside from portraying the title role, the project also highlighted Dian’s first role as a producer.
To broaden her horizons outside acting, Dian majored in philosophy at the University of Indonesia and graduated with her thesis, Beauty Industrial Complex, a study on the beauty industry that defines its own concept of ‘beauty’ and thus put women as both object and subject, it's also a critique about how the world of Beauty Industry fabricates the universal concept of beauty to a particular body/skin/hair types that benefits the business, -one that is undermining the plurality of human race.
Dian also worked as a human resources consultant for three and a half years. She then continued her study majoring Finance Management in University of Indonesia (Master degree, graduated 2014) and received Cum Laude in the study of The Performance of Indonesian Private Equity Companies to the Currency Volatility Index. The study observes how private equity companies hedge the risks of portfolios in Indonesia, despite the uncertain social-economic variables in the country.
Marking her return to acting after a six-year hiatus, Dian starred in the romantic comedy 7/24 ("24/7",director Fajar Nugros, 2014), and reprised her role as Cinta in the highly-anticipated sequel movie, Ada Apa Dengan Cinta 2? ("What's up with Cinta2?",director Riri Riza, 2016), which was also the best-selling film of that year.
Her other film, Kartini ('Kartini', director Hanung Bramantyo,2017) a biopic of an Indonesian heroine who pioneered the education rights for girls and women in the 1900. In the film, Dian portrays the title role, who pioneered the education for girls and women’s rights in the 1900s. Dian's other projects are the two movies with a very different role : an assassin in an action genre movie The Night Comes For Us (director Timo Tjahjanto, 2018), and a foodie lover in an entertaining movie entitled Aruna dan Lidahnya (Aruna and her Palate, director Edwin,2018).
In 2019 Dian was chosen as a jury member for The 4th International Film Festival And Awards - Macau (5-10 December 2019)
Some of Dian's other movies are : actor and producer for" Guru-Guru Gokil" ( 'Crazy Awesome Teachers', director Samaria Simanjuntak, Netflix 2020, writer and director for movie "Nougat" one among four short movies in an omnibus "Quarantine Tales" (, Netflix 2020), and main actor for Gadis Kretek (Cigarette Girl, director Kamila Andini and Ifa Ifansyah, Netflix limited series, to be released end of 2022)
Outside the limelight, Dian's passion is always connected with humanity. She has a big concern in education, women empowerment, and gender equality, and also children's welfare and health. Dian has been collaborating with UNICEF Indonesia since 2017 to promote the importance of education and health, especially for children through various activities and social media campaign. Dian also active in promoting healthy lifestyle through sport and healthy food and raising awareness towards climate crisis.
In 2009, Dian founded Yayasan Dian Sastrowardoyo (Dian Sastrowardoyo Foundation), which focuses on education, women empowerment and supporting Indonesian culture and heritage. One of the foundation program is #BeasiswaDian (#DianScholarship), a program initiated by herself to give scholarships for underprivileged-yet deserving young girls to be able to pursue a higher education at the country's best universities. Until Feb 2022, The program has sent 31 young bright women to Universities and 11 of them have passed with flying colors.
Dian is also co-founder Skinny Minnies - a culinary group that specialize in delicious home-cooked healthy meals delivered to work places or homes of their customers, and Co-founder Frame-A-Trip, a start-up platform that connects travelers to local photographers, to provide state-of-the-art photography capturing the unrepeatable moments of traveling.
Despite her popularity and busy schedule, Dian always finds time to spend with her family. She is married to entrepreneur Maulana Indraguna Sutowo in 2010 and currently enjoys her new role as the mother of their son, Shailendra Naryama Sastraguna Sutowo (9), and daughter, Ishana Ariandra Nariratana Sutowo(7)