Her younger sister, Riya Sen, is also in the Bollywood industry. Their father is Bharat Dev Varma , scion of the erstwhile royal family of Tripura state.
Her paternal grandmother Ila Devi, was the princess of Cooch Behar (in Bengal), whose younger sister Gayatri Devi is the Maharani of Jaipur.
She made her debut in the film Godmother, which was a critically acclaimed success, but her minor role may have been overlooked in favour of the protagonist, played by Shabana Azmi. She then starred in the film Daman playing Raveena Tandon's daughter, where her small performance was appreciated.
Her breakthrough role came when she starred in the Rituparno Ghosh's film Chokher Bali. She won much praise for her role as the simple, submissive Ashalata. After a few more average movies she had a critically acclaimed hit in 2005 with Parineeta, where she played the younger cousin of the film's heroine, played by the debutante Vidya Balan. Since then she has had two more hits with the action thriller Dus and the Bengali film Antar Mahal (where she had a very small role). Most recently, she appeared in the Hindi film Eklavya (again co-starring with Vidya Balan and Saif Ali Khan). She has yet, however, to play the leading role as an actress in any hit movie.
Like her younger sister Riya, Raima continues to model, particularly for the Indian cosmetics giant