M. Night Shyamalan Parents: Who Are M. Night Shyamalan’s Parents?
John Parsons
Published Mar 02, 2026
Manoj Nelliyattu “M. Night”Shyamalan born August 6, 1970, is an Indian-American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for making original films with contemporary supernatural plots and twist endings. He was born in Mahé, India, and raised in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania. The cumulative gross of his films exceeds $3.4 billion globally.
M. Night Shyamalan Parents: Who Are M. Night Shyamalan’s Parents?
Shyamalan was born in Mahé, India to ethnic Indian parents in a town in the Union Territory of Pondicherry. His father, Dr. Nelliyattu C. Shyamalan, is a Malayali neurologist from Mahé and a JIPMER graduate, his mother, Dr. Jayalakshmi, a Tamil, is an OB-GYN.
Shyamalan’s parents immigrated to the United States when he was six weeks old. Shyamalan was raised in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania. Shyamalan was raised Hindu.
He attended the private Roman Catholic grammar school Waldron Mercy Academy, followed by the Episcopal Academy, a private Episcopal high school located at the time in Merion Station, Pennsylvania. He felt like an outsider and remembers that teachers would say that whoever was not baptized would go to hell.
