Archie Panjabi
English actress (born 1972) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Archana Panjabi (born 31 May 1972[1]) is an English actress. She has had various roles in both UK and US television including as Maya Roy in Life on Mars (2006–07), Nas Kamal in Blindspot (2016–17, 2020), Kendra Malley in Departure (2019–present), and Kalinda Sharma in The Good Wife (2009–15). Her work in the latter earned her a Primetime Emmy Award in 2010 and an NAACP Image Award in 2012, as well as two further Emmy nominations, one Golden Globe nomination, and three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations shared with the cast. Panjabi is the first Asian actor to win a Primetime Emmy for acting. Other notable roles include Meenah Khan in East Is East (1999), Pinky Bhamra in Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Yasmin Husseini in Yasmin (2004), and Asra Nomani in A Mighty Heart (2007).
Archie Panjabi | |
|---|---|
 Panjabi in 2015 | |
| Born | Archana Panjabi 31 May 1972 Edgware, London, England |
| Alma mater | Brunel University |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Spouse |
Rajesh Nihalani (m. 1998) |
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Panjabi was born in Edgware, London, to Govind and Padma Panjabi, both Sindhi Hindu immigrants from India.[2] Her ancestry belongs to Sindh, now in Pakistan; her parents settled in India after the Partition of India.[3][4][5] She graduated from Brunel University with a degree in management studies in 1994.[6][7][8] She is also trained in ballet.[8]
Panjabi has appeared in film and television, from early appearances in the 1999 comedy film East is East to the BBC television series Life on Mars. Her first Hollywood role, as a British diplomat, was in the Oscar-winning The Constant Gardener, released in 2005. One of her highest profile film roles was in the 2002 comedy release Bend It Like Beckham. Panjabi then landed the role of witty and wisecracking office colleague Gemma in the 2006 Ridley Scott-directed romantic comedy A Good Year, alongside Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard.
Panjabi next appeared in 2007 with Angelina Jolie in the film adaptation of A Mighty Heart, a book by Mariane Pearl, wife of the journalist Daniel Pearl. Panjabi played the role of former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani. In 2008, she played the role of Chandra Dawkin in Traitor.
She provided the voices for several characters in the British children's television animation Postman Pat.[9] She lent her voice to the video game Dead Space: Extraction. Panjabi appeared on the BBC Four World Cinema Award show in February 2008, arguing the merits of five international hits such as The Lives of Others and Pan's Labyrinth with Jonathan Ross and Christopher Eccleston. In 2009, she portrayed an MI5 agent in the French movie Espion(s), and in the same year she joined the cast of the new CBS television series The Good Wife as Kalinda Sharma, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. Panjabi is the first actor of Indian descent to win an Emmy award.[10][11][12][13]
In 2010, she played Saamiya Nasir in the British comedy The Infidel. On 28 May 2012, she was cast as pathologist Tanya Reed Smith in BBC Two drama series The Fall.[14] Panjabi appeared as Blaise in the BBC World Service radio series Westway. After leaving The Good Wife in 2015, she guest starred in Fox comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She joined the cast of Shetland series 3.[15]
In 2016, it was announced that she will star in ABC anthology drama series The Jury as the show's protagonist, Kim Dempsey.[16] She also joined the cast of NBC drama Blindspot.[17]
In December 2017, Panjabi commented in The Daily Telegraph on the improvement for offers of parts for actors from ethnic groups "I think there's definitely been an acknowledgement of there being a lack of diversity...".[18] In an interview with The Guardian in February 2018, subsequent to her The Good Wife success, Panjabi ruefully recalled "A US talent agent once told me an Indian woman could never have a career in Hollywood".[19] She also starred as Reece Shearsmith's third love interest, in the ITV drama The Widower, first aired in August 2019. She started on TNT's drama Snowpiercer in Season three in 2022.
In May 2021, Panjabi voiced Depa Billaba in the series premiere of Star Wars: The Bad Batch.[20]
In September 2024, it was announced that Panjabi had been cast in the fifteenth series of Doctor Who as an unnamed villain.[21]
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Panjabi was appointed the first Pratham USA Ambassador, representing the largest educational movement in India.[22] She is a celebrity participant in the Rotary International's "This Close" public service campaign to end polio.[23] In support of women's rights, she has partnered with Amnesty International to head their Stop Violence Against Women campaign to change the "no recourse to public funds" rule that traps women in a cycle of violence.[24] On 9 February 2011, Panjabi walked in The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection Fashion Show to increase awareness of the danger of heart disease, the number one killer of women.[25] The Harvard Foundation and Office for the Arts at Harvard University invited Panjabi to participate in their Artist in Residence Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to share her creative process as an actress.[26][27]
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Panjabi was awarded the Chopard Trophy at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007. She was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for The Good Wife, winning in 2010. She won an NAACP Image Award in 2011 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for the same role. She was also nominated for three SAG Awards with her co-stars of The Good Wife for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
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Panjabi married Rajesh Nihalani, a bespoke tailor, at the age of 26.[28]
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Bideshi | Joyoti | Short film |
| 1999 | East is East | Meenah Khan | |
| 2001 | Delilah | Adult Pim | Short film |
| 2002 | Black Nor White | Sangeeta | Short film |
| 2002 | Bend It Like Beckham | Pinky Bhamra | |
| 2002 | Arranged Marriage | Shashi | Short film |
| 2003 | Code 46 | Check In | |
| 2003 | Cross My Heart | Sumi | |
| 2004 | Yasmin | Yasmin | |
| 2005 | Chromophobia | Sarita | |
| 2005 | The Constant Gardener | Ghita Pearson | |
| 2006 | A Good Year | Gemma | |
| 2007 | Flying Lessons | Sharmila | Italian title: Lezioni di volo |
| 2007 | I Could Never Be Your Woman | Casting Girl | |
| 2007 | A Mighty Heart | Asra Nomani | |
| 2008 | Traitor | Chandra Dawkin | |
| 2008 | My World | Teacher | Short film |
| 2009 | Espion(s) | Anna | |
| 2009 | Be Good | Animal Adoption Officer | Short film |
| 2010 | The Infidel | Saamiya Nasir | |
| 2010 | The Happiness Salesman | Karen | Short film |
| 2013 | The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby | Unknown | Panjabi appears in sequels Him and Her. |
| 2014 | I Origins | Priya Varma | |
| 2015 | San Andreas | Serena |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Siren Spirits | Joyoti | Episode: "Bideshi" |
| 1996 | The Thin Blue Line | Nazia Habib | Episode: "Alternative Culture" |
| 1997 | Dad | N/A | Episode: "Dadmestic" |
| 2000 | Brand Spanking New Show | Various | 12 episodes |
| 2001 | A Mind to Kill | Lamisa Khan | Episode: "Colour Blind" |
| 2001 | Murder in Mind | WPC Jill Evans | Episode: "Vigilante" |
| 2001 | The Bill | Shanaz Arad | 2 episodes |
| 2002 | Single Voices | N/A | Episode: "Little Englander" |
| 2002 | Holby City | Ali Safron | Episode: "From This Moment On" |
| 2002 | My Family | Dental Assistant | Episode: "Of Mice and Ben" |
| 2002 | White Teeth | Alsana | 4 episodes |
| 2003 | The Canterbury Tales | Clare | Episode: "The Man of Law's Tale" |
| 2003–2004 | Grease Monkeys | Rita Dhillon | 20 episodes |
| 2003–2006 | Postman Pat | Meera Bains, Katy Pottage and Nisha Bains | |
| 2004 | Sea of Souls | Megan Sharma | 6 episodes |
| 2006–2007 | Life on Mars | Maya Roy | 2 episodes |
| 2007 | Silent Witness | Amita Joshi | 2 episodes |
| 2008-2017 | Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service | Meera Bains and Nisha Bains | |
| 2009 | Personal Affairs | Jane Lesser | 5 episodes |
| 2009–2015 | The Good Wife | Kalinda Sharma | Main role (season 1–6) |
| 2013–2014 | The Fall | Professor Reed Smith | Main role |
| 2014 | The Widower | Simone Banerjee | Miniseries |
| 2015 | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Lieutenant Singh | Episode: "The Funeral"[29][30] |
| 2016 | Shetland | Detective Sergeant Asha Israni | Main role (series 3) |
| 2016 | The Jury | Kim Dempsey | Unsold TV pilot |
| 2016 | Power Monkeys | Preeya | Main role |
| 2016–2018, 2020 | Blindspot | Nas Kamal | Main role (season 2); guest role (seasons 3 & 5) |
| 2017 | Bull | Arti Cander | 1 episode: "The Devil, The Detail"[31] |
| 2017 | BoJack Horseman | Tilda Madison | Voice role; episode: "Commence Fracking" |
| 2018 | Next of Kin | Mona Harcourt | 6 episodes, also executive producer |
| 2019–2023 | Departure | Kendra Malley | Main role, also executive producer |
| 2019 | Still Open All Hours | Jasmin | Recurring role (series 6), 4 episodes |
| 2020 | Run | Fiona | 3 episodes |
| 2020 | I Know This Much Is True | Dr Patel | Miniseries |
| 2021 | Star Wars: The Bad Batch | Depa Billaba | Voice role; Episode: ‘’Aftermath’’ |
| 2022 | Snowpiercer | Asha | Main role (season 3) |
| 2023 | Hijack | Zahra Gahfoor | Miniseries |
| 2024 | Under the Bridge | Suman Virk | |
| 2025 | Doctor Who | TBA | Series 15 |
Television films
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Under the Moon | Heena | |
| 2000 | In The Beginning | Basya | |
| 2001 | Ivor the Invisible | Leila | |
| 2002 | The Secret | Nadia's PO | |
| 2002 | Tough Love | Chandra | |
| 2003 | This Little Life | Niala | |
| 2003 | Final Demand | Farida | |
| 2005 | A Very Social Secretary | Ashley | |
Radio
2004-5 Westway (radio series) | |- |}
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