His real name is Manoj Nelliattu Shymalan. He adopted the name “Night” in college.
He grew up in an affluent Philadelphia suburb and attended Waldron Academy, a private Catholic grammar school, before graduating from Episcopal Academy, a private Episcopalian school. He is a 1992 graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
He married Bhavna Vaswani, a fellow NYU student, in 1993. He has chosen to set most of his films in the Philadelphia area so he can spend his nights at home with his wife and two daughters.