User:Smitfive

Indian (or part Indian) heritage/descent actresses who have worked in Hollywood/Internationally, excluding any pure Bollywood actresses like Katrina Kaif.

This list was originally intended to be a casting indicator for roles requiring South Asian ethnicity. A few Bollywood actresses (eg: Mallika Sherawat) are added as an exception only if they are available for Hollywood/World projects (with some track record).

1. Nazneen Contractor Actress, Seance: The Summoning Born in Mumbai, India and raised and educated in Nigeria and London, Nazneen Contractor immigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada with her family by the age of ten. She spent her early youth excelling in her academics and training as a classical ballerina. After almost ten years of dance training, she discovered her true love was performing and turned her energies towards acting...

2. Hannah Simone Actress, Pilot Hannah Simone stars on FOX's hit series, "New Girl", opposite Zooey Deschanel. Simone hosted HGTV Canada's popular design show "Space for Living" before moving onto Canada's largest music channel, MuchMusic. After MuchMusic, Simone moved to Los Angeles where she hosted two seasons of "WCG: Ultimate Gamer" for the SyFy channel... “ My father is Indian, my mother is half German-Italian and half Greek-Cypriot ” - minidodo

3. Rhona Mitra Actress, Shooter Mitra was born in Paddington, London, England, the daughter of Antony, who is a cosmetic surgeon, and Nora Mitra. She has an older and a younger brother. Her father is of Bengali Indian and English descent, and her mother is Irish. In 1984, when Mitra was eight, her parents divorced, and she was sent to boarding school...

4. Sheetal Sheth Actress, I Can't Think Straight Sheetal, who was raised in a small New Jersey city, burst onto the scene with raves in her debut film role, playing the gutsy lead in ABCD - a risky and memorable role as a promiscuous young girl struggling with the ties of family and tradition. She discovered her passion for acting in high school and subsequently enrolled in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University...

5. Lisa Ray Actress, Defendor Lisa Ray was finishing high school in Canada with aspirations of majoring in Journalism at University when a celebrated fashion magazine approached her to model for them, and she ended up on the cover. This catapulted her into a state of instant celebrity. Her high-profile career got her noticed by Indian filmmakers...

6. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Actress, Bride & Prejudice Aishwarya Rai (Ash) is one of Bollywood's pre-eminent leading ladies. This Indian darling burst upon the world stage when her striking beauty, poise and commanding intelligence won her the Miss World crown in 1994. This former architecture major soon became one of India's most famous models, landing a prestigious Pepsi campaign and appearing in Vogue Magazine... “ Well, not really a hollywood actress, but known well enough here so... ” - minidodo

7. Padma Lakshmi Self, 12 Days of Christmas “ Well... she is on top of this list and she is not really an actress! What can I say ? :-D ” - minidodo

8. Laila Rouass Actress, Conan the Barbarian Laila Rouass was born in London to Moroccan/Indian parents. Laila studied in Britain but decided to drop her studies and travel in India for a few months. A few months turned into six years. Whilst living in Bombay, she worked for MTV, BBC, and TNT. Her step into movies came when she was spotted by Italian director Aditya Bhattacharya and whisked off to Messina to shoot Senso unico.

9. Saira Mohan Actress, Teen Patti “ Interestingly she is a reverse exception, Indian origin, known internationally (for modeling) but has worked primarily in Bollywood. ” - minidodo

10. Janina Gavankar Actress, Barbershop

11. Noureen DeWulf Actress, Ocean's Thirteen Actress Noureen DeWulf was born in New York and raised in Georgia. Her parents are from Pune, India. She was educated at Boston University's School of the Arts. One of DeWulf's first roles was in the Oscar winning short West Bank Story. Acting success continued with roles in TV hits such as CSI: NY...

12. Aarti Mann Actress, The Prestidigitation Approximation

13. Reshma Shetty Actress, Pilot

14. Zuleikha Robinson Actress, Hidalgo

15. Freida Pinto Actress, Slumdog Millionaire Freida Pinto traversed the modeling circuit in Mumbai [represented by Elite Model Management India] for two years before gaining her big break when director Danny Boyle picked her out in the audition process to play the female lead, Latika, for his project Slumdog Millionaire. In a promo interview, Boyle likened spotting her to his discovery of Kelly Macdonald for Trainspotting...

16. Navi Rawat Actress, House of Sand and Fog

17. Indira Varma Actress, Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

18. Norah Jones Self, Ted She was born Geetali Norah Jones Shankar to legendary Indian musician, Ravi Shankar, and Sue Jones in New York City. Fittingly, her birth name, Geetali, carries the meaning of "song" or "melodious", and was bestowed on her by her father. No one could have possibly imagined how fully she would embody that name...

19. Parminder Nagra Actress, Bend It Like Beckham

20. Mallika Sherawat Actress, Murder “ She is too bollywoodish to be here.. but who knows how it might help ” - minidodo

21. Persis Khambatta Actress, Star Trek: The Motion Picture Persis Khambatta was born on October 2, 1948 in Bombay, India. At age 17, as Femina Miss India, she entered Miss Universe 1965, dressed in off-the-rack clothes she bought at the last minute. Khambatta became a model for companies such as Revlon. Her biggest acting break was getting the role of Lieutenant Ilia... “ The original star trek hottie. ” - minidodo

22. Sarita Choudhury Actress, Lady in the Water After her debut film Mississippi Masala became an art house hit, Sarita Choudhury was determined not to "go Hollywood," focusing her acting energies on independent film instead. Raised in Jamaica, Mexico, and Italy, the half-Indian, half-English Choudhury studied economics at Queens University in Ontario before switching to acting...

23. Nandana Sen Actress, Black

24. Fagun Thakrar Actress, Brick Lane Early in her career Fagun Thakrar beat thousands of Britain's hopefuls in the BBC's nationwide search 'Bolly Idol' for new acting talent. She was brought up outside of London and as a straight 'A' student' studied several particularly challenging fields simultaneously. At the age of 16, the British television network ITV did a segment on Fagun and she was chosen for the feature film 'Brick Lane'...

25. Pratima Anaé Actress, Outsourced Actress, Host, Model and Beauty Queen, Pratima Anae grew up in a small Amish town in the heart of the Midwest. In this unlikely setting, her parents, Indian immigrants, began their families' quest for the American dream. Pratima, the middle of three children, rose above convention and expectation when she was crowned Miss Indiana USA...

26. Helen Brodie Actress, Monsoon

27. Namrata Singh Gujral Actress, House of Sand and Fog Namrata Singh Gujral is a Sikh Indian-American actress/producer, who is also a breast cancer survivor and cancer advocate. A 1998 graduate from the University of West Florida, Namrata was born in India, but left at an early age. She moved to Hollywood in 2001 from Pensacola, Florida and was "taft-hartleyed"...

28. Aruna Shields Actress, Prince Critically acclaimed British actor Aruna Shields achieved an academic scholarship to boarding school. Later gained distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and a writing degree from Central St Martins. Secured the gritty lead role in epic adventure,Ao, le dernier Néandertal Budget $20 million...

29. Tehmina Sunny Actress, Children of Men Born in London, her passion for the arts was developed at an early age. She received a scholarship for playing the violin, Viola and piano. With no previous training she was a finalist for the BBCs cross-country search for acting talent, a nationwide competition battling against tens of thousands. From that point she appeared in numerous school productions exploring her newfound talent...

30. Naomi Scott Actress, Lemonade Mouth Naomi Scott was born in London, England. She first starting singing with the Bridge Church Youth Band and regularly performed in school musicals. Scott was eventually discovered by British pop star Kelle Bryan from the band Eternal who signed Naomi as a client. She then went to work with Xenomania. In 2009...

31. Pooja Kumar Actress, Man on a Ledge Born in St. Louis, MO. Degree in political science and finance from Washington University in St. Louis. Selected as one of the top 10 finalists in the Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited competition and surpassed over 40,000 participants. Former Miss India U.S.A. and video disc jockey for Channel V

32. Purva Bedi Actress, American Desi

33. Meera Simhan Actress, Iron Man Meera Simhan's first lead film role comes in Date Movie, playing the loving Mom to Alyson Hannigan. Simhan was born in England and raised in San Diego. At age eight, she went to Kodai Kanal International Boarding School in South India, until she returned to Southern California to attend High School and College in Orange County...

34. Leela Savasta Actress, This Means War Leela Savasta was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. She is also a dual citizen with the United States. Savasta stars in the Showcase original drama series Cra$h & Burn. Additionally, she play recurring roles in NBC's award winning drama Battlestar Galactica and in Chris Haddock crime drama series Intelligence... “ Actually I am not too sure about her heritage but her name sounds Indian. ” - minidodo

35. Archie Panjabi Actress, Bend It Like Beckham Archie made her film debut in the British hit East Is East. Since then, she has continued to work on international blockbuster films, from Bend It Like Beckham and The Constant Gardener to critically acclaimed films like A Mighty Heart (starring opposite Angelina Jolie) and Yasmin (written by Simon Beaufoy)...

36. Amara Karan Actress, The Darjeeling Limited Amara was born to Sri Lankan parents who had moved to England from Zambia to further her father's work opportunities. She went to the Wimbledon High School and, although she enjoyed drama, she regarded acting as a risky profession and studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University, graduating with a 2:1 degree... “ Indian subcontinent (Srilanka) ” - minidodo

37. Dilshad Vadsaria Actress, 30 Minutes or Less Dilshad Vadsaria was born in Karachi, Pakistan, of Portuguese and Indian descent. She moved with her family to the US at the age of six and spent her childhood in various parts of the country, including Chicago, Richmond (Virginia) and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She eventually moved to New York to study acting... “ Indian subcontinent (pak). ” - minidodo

38. Sofia Hayat Actress, Naachle London Sofia started acting and singing from a very young age. She has a level in theater studies and a Ba Hons degree in performing arts and music. Her family did not want her to study the arts so she was disowned. She came from a strict Muslim background and lost her family because they did not agree with her choice of career...

39. Pooja Shah Actress, Bend It Like Beckham Pooja Shah was born on 8th August 1979 in North London in a Kenyan-Asian family. Grandparents migrated to Kenya from Gujarat in Western India and so the ancestral roots are there. After studying at local Nursery, Infants and Junior school, she did GCSE at a Girls Grammar School. Took a year out from studies and worked part-time at the Finchley Youth Theatre...

40. Amrapali Ambegaokar Actress, Extra Ordinary Barry Amrapali Ambegaokar left her position as Principal Dancer in Cirque Du Soleil in over 730 shows over 2 years so that she could pursue her secret childhood dream of acting with the purpose of expanding her artistic career from the stage to the challenge of Film and TV. With recurring roles on Grey's Anatomy in 18 episodes and Guest starring roles on Heroes and credits on Desperate Housewives...

41. Anjali Jay Actress, Blind Dating Anjali Jay is an English actress of Indian descent, mostly known for her roles in Robin Hood and Blind Dating. She was raised in Bangalore, India. Currently lives in New York and has never gone on a blind date, even though she starred in Blind Dating. Played Juliet in a UK tour of 'Romeo and Juliet' by William Shakespeare. [January-April 2006]

42. Naureen Zaim Actress, Wedding Crashers “ Irish and Pakistani origin. ” - minidodo

43. Rebecca Hazlewood Actress, Sucking Is a Fine Quality in Women and Vacuum Cleaners Rebecca Jane Hazlewood is a British actress of Indian and English descent. Rebecca was born in Kingswinford, England and studied at Bretton Hall and The Impulse Company in London. She is best known for her roles as Beena Shah in Crossroads and Arun Parmar in Bad Girls, and is most recently known for acting in the NBC comedy series Outsourced...

44. Mahaley Manning Actress, Easy A “ Indian subcontinent (afghan) ” - minidodo

45. Imali Perera Actress, Repo Men Born in Sri Lanka. Grew up in Calgary, Alberta. Started her studies in Piano, Speech & Drama and Singing at the age of 6. Invited to study Opera at McGill University, she left Calgary and moved to Montreal and finished her degree in Music and Voice Performance there. However, Imali opted to continue... “ Sri Lanka ” - minidodo

46. Natasha Chandel Actress, Mumbai's Holiday Spectacular Natasha is a triple threat performer - actor, singer, and dancer (trained with Shiamak Davar International) and media professional. Natasha's work has garnered numerous awards and is most known for her starring role in the comedy web series, Landing in Mumbai, where she plays Mumbai Chopra - the sweet...

47. Tannishtha Chatterjee Actress, Brick Lane Tannishtha Chatterjee is an Indian actress, best known for her performance in Sarah Gavron's Brick Lane (2007), the film adaptation of Monica Ali's best selling novel of the same name. She was nominated for the British Independent Film Awards as the best actress for Brick Lane along with actresses like Judi Dench and Anne Hathaway...

48. Sunita Param Actress, Blades of Glory

49. Asha Siewkumar Actress, The Man from Elysian Fields

50. Katy Mirza Actress, Kasme Vaade

51. Richa Shukla Actress, Love Fool “ Technically she is not in Hollywood yet.. but looks like she is on the way. ” - minidodo

52. Bridget Neval Actress, Damned by Dawn Born in India, brought up in Canada, and moving to Australia in her early teens, Bridget is best known to Australian and UK audiences for her role of "Lana Crawford" in Neighbours, where she had the controversial task of playing the show's first openly gay character. It marked a huge change from her earlier work in children's television... “ Not sure how Indian she really is in terms of origin. ” - minidodo

53. Neelam Verma Actress, Bollywood Blvd. Neelam Verma was born in Montreal, Canada to parents who immigrated from India in the 1970s. She graduated from a prestigious Canadian Business school in 1998 and worked in brand marketing with Procter & Gamble before setting off on a whirlwind trip around the world. She traveled to twenty-five countries over the next several months...

54. Rayna Tharani Actress, For Colored Girls

55. Rekha Sharma Actress, The Core

56. Agam Darshi Actress, Watchmen Agam Darshi was born Agamdeep Darshi in Birmingham, UK. At a very young age she and her family moved to Canada. At the age of 14 she left home and moved to Calgary, to pursue a career of acting - which is her passion. Agam studied Theater and Fine Arts at the University of Calgary and earned a degree and photography...

57. Farrah Skyler Greye Miscellaneous Crew, The 76th Annual Academy Awards Farrah was born overseas, in Hyderabad, India. The town that is famous for spices, sweet savory cuisine and where the Hope Diamond was stolen and now sits in Queen Elizabeth's crown. She left her beloved grandpa behind in Bombay during monsoon's torrential rains at 4 years of age. He is still her hero...

58. Neelesha BaVora Actress, Pandorum

59. Tiya Sircar Actress, Friends with Benefits

60. Priya Sircar Actress, The Whistler

61. Gabrielle Anwar Actress, Scent of a Woman Her father is Tariq Anwar and her mother is Shirley Hills. Anwar attended Laleham Church of England Primary and Middle School from 1975 to 1982. Trinian's sketch in the school concert of 1982 gave an early indication of her theatrical leanings. She studied at the London drama and dance school Italia Conti...

62. Yasmeen Ghauri Self, Catwalk

63. Sandra Teles Actress, Cryptid

64. Anita Majumdar Actress, Murder Unveiled

65. Veena Sood Actress, 50/50 Veena Sood is an award-winning actress - of East Indian descent, and is internationally recognized for her versatility in both comedy and drama. She has a theatre degree in Drama and went on to co-found "The Loose Moose Theatre Company" with Improv master Keith Johnstone. Over the years Veena has appeared in countless plays...

66. Anisha Nagarajan Actress, Pilot Nagarajan's parents are immigrants from India. Her mother, Geetha Nagarajan, is a former developmental specialist at Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic. Her father, Nandu Nagarajan, is a professor and academic at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. She has one brother, Arjun... “ Cute girl from "Outsourced" ” - minidodo

67. Mindy Kaling Actress, Despicable Me “ The chick from office. ” - minidodo

68. Preeya Kalidas Actress, Four Lions Preeya Kalidas is a singer,actress,dancer. Her credits cover stage,screen and television. She was cast after a worldwide search in the leading role of Priya in AR Rahmans Bombay Dreams produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber.She sang the hit song Shakalaka Baby which won best video at MTV Asia Awards. Also as part of the Brit-Asian success...

69. Veerta Motiani Actress, Easy A

70. Nicki Minaj Soundtrack, New Year's Eve “ "Nicki Minaj or "Onika Tanya Maraj" parents of Indian descent and Trinidad and Tobago" : http://biographyofmusicartists.blogspot.com ” - minidodo

71. Rani Bheemuck Actress, Eject

72. Karen David Actress, Batman Begins Karen was born on 15 April 1979. Though Indian-born she was raised in Canada and,at 17,won a music scholarship to Berklee College,Boston,Massachussets,before coming to England to study drama at the Guildford School of Acting On graduation she appeared on the West End stage in hit musical 'Mamma Mia!"...

73. Shelley Conn Actress, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory “ Sri lankan Descent. ” - minidodo

74. Suleka Mathew Actress, Touch of Pink

75. Summer Bishil Actress, Towelhead Born in Pasadena, California on July 17, 1988, to an American mother and a father of East Indian ancestry. Summer is the youngest of three siblings. Summer and her family moved to Saudi Arabia when she was three. A year later, the family relocated back to the Pasadena area for a short time, awaiting the transfer of her father to the small Island Kingdom of Bahrain...

76. Tinsel Korey Actress, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Indie queen Tinsel Korey is a Canadian actress/singer-songwriter who plays the beautifully scarred character in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. Korey beat out 800 other actresses for the role of a lifetime - playing Sam Uley's fiancée and soul mate from the neighboring Makah Tribe-a pivotal role in Stephanie Meyers' worldwide franchise... “ Apparently her real name is Harsha Patel ” - minidodo

77. Jamila Wilkinson Actress, Raising Helen

78. Sarayu Rao Actress, Lions for Lambs