M. Night Shyamalan's Real Name: Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan

Quick answer: M. Night Shyamalan was born Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan on August 6, 1970, in Pondicherry (now Puducherry), India. The "M" stands for Manoj. He adopted "Night" as a middle name while studying at New York University. He wrote and directed The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable, Signs, and Split (Britannica; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

Britannica gives his original name as Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan. The Library of Congress name authority files him as "Shyamalan, M. Night," with the variants "Shyamalan, Manoj Nelliyattu" and "Shyamalan, Manoj Night." One LOC citation reads "b. Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan, Aug. 6, 1970, Pondicherry" and adds that he has sometimes been credited as "Manoj Night Shamalyn."

Britannica says he is the son of Indian-born physicians Nelliate C. and Jayalakshmi Shyamalan. His parents had already moved to the United States, but his mother spent the end of her pregnancy in India and gave birth to him there. About six weeks later, mother and son joined the family in Penn Valley, a suburb of Philadelphia. Given a Super-8 camera as a child, he had made 45 home movies by the end of high school.

How "M. Night" came about

According to Britannica, he shortened Manoj to the single letter M because people at school found his name difficult to pronounce. He adopted the middle name Night at NYU, saying he came across it while studying Lakota culture and that it resonated with him spiritually. He graduated from NYU's film school in 1992.

Career highlights

His first feature, Praying with Anger (1992), was followed by Wide Awake (1998). His breakout, The Sixth Sense (1999), was nominated for six Academy Awards, including best director and best original screenplay. He followed it with Unbreakable (2000), Signs (2002), and The Village (2004). Later films include Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender, and After Earth. He then made The Visit and Split (2016), followed by Glass (2019), the second Unbreakable sequel.

More recent films are Old (2021), Knock at the Cabin (2023), and Trap (2024), in which his daughter Saleka made her acting debut. He was an executive producer of the Apple TV+ series Servant (2019–23) and directed five episodes. Britannica notes his trademark twist endings, his cameo appearances, and his habit of setting films in or around Philadelphia.

Name notes for searchers

Manoj is his legal first name, shortened to the initial M. Night is a self-chosen middle name, not a birth name. Nelliyattu is his birth middle name, and Shyamalan is the family surname. Credits have occasionally misspelled the surname as "Shamalyn."