Kanan Devi was one of the early singer-actors of Hindi and Bengali cinema. Born in Calcutta, she was pushed into the world of cinema in 1926 when her father passed away and the responsibilty to sustain her family fell on her. She was only 10 years old when she debuted in the silent film "Jai Deb".

She got her first lead role in the Bengali film "Jore Barat" and went to act in many Bengali and later Hindi films. It was around this time that her musical talent was discovered. She got a contract with the Megaphone Gramophone Company and sang in some of their earliest records.

In 1937, she joined New Theatres and established herself in Hindi films as a singer-actor. In 1941, however, she quit New Theatres and went back to Bengali films. She acted in many Bengali films over the next two decades, while continuing to dabble in Hindi films, and eventually quit acting in 1959.

The multi-faceted Kanan Devi also produced many Bengali films from 1949 to 1965 based on Sarat Chandra Chatterjee's novels.

Kanan Devi received the Padma Shri in 1968 and the Dadasaheb Phalke award in 1976.