Sarita Catherine Louise Choudhury (born August 18, 1966) is an English actress who has appeared in film and on television. Choudhury made her screen debut starring in the romantic drama film Mississippi Masala (1991). She later appeared in numerous American and international film productions, including A Perfect Murder (1998), Spike Lee's She Hate Me (2004), Lady in the Water (2006), Midnight's Children (2012), and The Green Knight (2021).
Choudhury played the leading roles in a number of films, notably the historical erotic romance Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996), the drama For Real (2009), and the supernatural horror film Evil Eye (2020). On television, she starred as Mira Berenson in the Showtime thriller series Homeland (2011–2017), and as Kith Lyonne in the Netflix superhero series, Jessica Jones (2019). In 2021, Choudhury began starring as Seema Patel in the HBO Max comedy-drama series, And Just Like That....
Early life and education
Choudhury was born in Blackheath, London, to English and Indian-Bengali parents.[2][3] Her father was a scientist, and she grew up in Jamaica and Italy.[4]
She studied economics and film at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, graduating in 1989. Her older brother, Paul Choudhury, also studied at Queen's.[4]
Career
Choudhury made her big screen debut starring opposite Denzel Washington in the 1991 romantic drama film Mississippi Masala directed by Mira Nair, for which she received her Screen Actors Guild (SAG) card.[5][6][7] She was still working as a waitress in Manhattan's East Village to make ends meet while the film was in theatres.[6] The film was positively received by critics. After her debut film Mississippi Masala became an art-house hit, Choudhury acted as a Pakistani country-western singer in the British comedy film Wild West (1992), a Chilean maid who is raped in Bille August's adaptation of The House of the Spirits, and a lesbian mother in the experimental film Fresh Kill directed by Shu Lea Cheang.[8]
Choudhury (right) at the Indian Panorama Feature Film Press Conference in 2009
After appearing in the American comedy film The Perez Family and the made-for-television drama Down Came a Blackbird in 1995, Choudhury starred as Tara, the Indian princess in the historical erotic romance film Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996) directed by Nair. The film generated controversy at the time of its release and was banned in India due to its erotic theme and sexual content.[9] The following years, she acted primarily in American productions, notable playing the recurring role on the NBC police drama series Homicide: Life on the Street for five episodes during the 1998–99 season as Dr. Kalyani, a medical examiner. In 1998, she appeared in the crime thriller film A Perfect Murder and the romantic drama film Restless. The following year, she had a minor role in the thriller film Gloria directed by Sidney Lumet. She had recurring roles on the short-lived television dramas Deadline (2000) and 100 Centre Street (2001–2002), and later appeared in the comedy films It Runs in the Family (2003) and She Hate Me (2004).
In 2005, Choudhury starred in the independent political drama film The War Within and the following year appeared in the psychological thriller Lady in the Water by M. Night Shyamalan.[10] In 2007, she played the role of the King's mistress, Helen Pardis, in the NBC short-lived drama series Kings. The series was based upon the Biblical story of King David but set in modern times. Her character's Biblical counterpart was Rizpah, a concubine of King Saul. She worked with independent-film director Sona Jain in the 2009 drama film For Real. In an interview with The Statesman, she said, "After Mississippi Masala and Kama Sutra I started getting offers in New York... doing theatres... I just went with the flow. One fine day, I thought that I haven't been back to India, haven't shot there and that's something I wanted to. There were Bollywood offers but it was not until Sona's script that made me look at India."[11] The film had a commercial release in September 2010.
Choudhury appeared in the independent films The Last Photograph (2017) and After Louie (2018), and was a regular cast member during the third and final season of Hulu drama series The Path in 2018. In 2019, she starred as Kith Lyonne in the Netflix series Jessica Jones and the following year appeared in the Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere. In 2020, she played the leading role in the supernatural horror film Evil Eye.[14][15] She also starred in the Spanish drama film It Snows in Benidorm (2020), and appeared in the science fiction drama After Yang and The Green Knight (2021).
In 2021, Choudhury joined the cast of HBO Max comedy-drama series And Just Like That..., a Sex and the City revival series.[16] She plays Seema Patel, a real estate broker who becomes a new friend for Carrie Bradshaw. Choudhury received wide press coverage for her performance in the series.[17][18] Some of critics dubbed her as "the new Samantha Jones".[19]The A.V. Club named her the best part of the series.[20] After her And Just Like That... performance, HBO Max announced that Choudhury would star in and produce the family drama series The Colony based on the 2019 film Stray Dolls.[21]
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