Background

Indira Anne Varma was born on 14 May 1973 in Bath, Somerset, England to an Indian father and Swiss mother of Genoese Italian descent. Both her parents were involved in fine arts and had met each other at art school in London. She was the only child of slightly aged parents who were often mistaken as grandparents, which embarrassed her to some extent.

She grew up with a natural accent due to which she faced some amount of racism as a child. She had to gesticulate a lot while conversing which encouraged her to become a mime artist when she was young. However, she never took up studies in mime.

Education

As she grew up, Varma got interested in dramatics and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, where she studied from 1992 to 1995. She was also an active member of the Musical Youth Theatre Company, founded by Greg Vere.

Career

Varma has had a number of television and film roles, including Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love in 1997 and Bride and Prejudice in 2004, and the young Roman wife Niobe during the first season of BBC/HBO's historical drama series Rome. Her character appeared briefly in the second season of the award-winning series when it aired on 14 January 2007.

In 1997, Varma played Bianca in Shakespeare's Othello at the National Theatre, London. In 2000 to 2001, she appeared in Harold Pinter and Di Trevis's NT stage adaptation of Pinter's The Proust Screenplay, Remembrance of Things Past, based on À la recherche du temps perdu, by Marcel Proust. In the summer of 2001, she played Gila in One for the Road, by Harold Pinter, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.

In 2002, she played Sasha Lebedieff in Ivanov by Anton Chekhov at the National Theatre and Bunty Mainwaring in The Vortex by Noël Coward at the Donmar Theatre, London. In 2004, she played Sabina in The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder at the Young Vic Theatre Theatre, London. In 2008, she played Nadia Baliye in The Vertical Hour by David Hare at the Royal Court Theatre London. In 2009, she played Olivia in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night with Donmar West End at Wyndham's Theatre, London. In 2012, she played Jessica in Terry Johnson's Hysteria at the Theatre Royal, Bath. In 2013 she played Miss Cutts in The Hothouse by Harold Pinter in the Trafalgar Transformed season at Trafalgar Studios.

In 2006, she played Suzie Costello in the first and eighth episodes, "Everything Changes" and "They Keep Killing Suzie", of BBC Three's science-fiction drama series Torchwood. She appeared as Dr Adrienne Holland in the CBS medical drama 3 lbs which premiered on 14 November 2006 and was canceled on 30 November 2006 due to poor ratings. Varma guest-starred in the fourth-season premiere of hit US detective drama Bones as Scotland Yard Inspector Cate Pritchard. She also played the role of Zoe Luther in the first series of the BBC drama Luther. Varma played the role of Ilsa Pucci in the second season of the Fox series Human Target until the show was canceled on 10 May 2011.

Varma played the role of Ellaria Sand, the paramour of Oberyn Martell in season 4 of the HBO show Game of Thrones, and reprised the role in seasons 5, 6 and 7.

She lent her voice to the Circle mage Vivienne, in the 2014 role-playing video game Dragon Age: Inquisition. In 2016, she played the lead role of DC Nina Suresh in the eight-episode British television drama Paranoid, streamed worldwide on Netflix.

In 2014, Varma played Tamora, Queen of the Goths, in Lucy Bailey's "gore-fest" production of Titus Andronicus at Shakespeare's Globe. In 2015, she appeared alongside Ralph Fiennes in George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman at the National Theatre.

Achievements

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  Indira Varma went down in history with her major roles in films include Maya in ‘Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love’ (1996), Kitty in ‘Clancy’s Kitchen’ (1997), Ruttie Jinnah in ‘Jinnah’ (1998), Kiran Balraj in ‘Bride and Prejudice’ (2004), Denise Glass in ‘Basic Instinct 2’ (2006) and Sonia in ‘Una’ (2016).
  
  In 2015, she won the ‘Behind The Voice Actor Award’ for ‘Best Vocal Ensemble in a Video Game’ for ‘Dragon Age: Inquisition.'

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Exodus: Gods and Kings

    (Acclaimed director Ridley Scott brings new life to the ep...)

    2014
  • Basic Instinct 2

    (A prominent criminal psychologist is lured into a murdero...)

    2006
  • Bride And Prejudice

    (A modern adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride...)

    2004
  • Sex and Death 101

    (A guy's life is turned around by an email, which includes...)

  • Una

    (A woman confronts an older man, her former neighbour, to ...)

    2016
  • Official Secrets

    (Keira Knightley stars in the untold true story about a sp...)

    2019
  • Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

    (Two female friends become sexual rivals at maturity.)

    1996
  • Mad Dogs

    (Follows the reunion of four old sixth form friends. They ...)

    2002
  • Jinnah

    (The story of Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.)

    1998

• TV series

  • Carnival Row

    (With a serial killer lose on Carnival Row, and a governme...)

    2019
  • Human Target

    (Using the popular DC Comics title as a springboard, this ...)

    2010
  • Paranoid

    (The murder of a female GP in a rural playground in front ...)

    2016
  • Game of Thrones

    (Nine noble families fight for control over the mythical l...)

    2014
  • Rome

    (A down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious ...)

    2005
  • Patrick Melrose

    (Based on the Patrick Melrose Novels by Edward St. Aubyn.)

    2018

Views

Quotations: "I love theater. I also love radio. I love language."

"I don't want to be an absent mother. Otherwise, why have children?"

"I've love the challenge of doing something new. Bollywood is magical."

"I depend on good editors and a good director."

"I like how small you can be on TV."

"An actor matures with experiences, and the more the emotions he/she has been through, the greater the intensity of performances."

Personality

Indira Varma has a love for languages and professes that she would have most probably taken up teaching, had she not gone into acting.

Growing up, she was also interested in pantomime. However, she never pursued art.

Varma is a major theatre admirer and has done extensive theatre work herself which includes her performances in various productions of plays like Othello, Remembrance of Things Past, Ivanov, and Titus Andronicus.

Physical Characteristics: Height - 5 ft 7 in (170 cm)

Weight - 59 kg (130 lbs)

Hair color - black

Eye color - dark brown

Distinctive features - curly hair, high cheekbones

Interests

• pantomime

• Politicians

  Barack Obama

• Writers

  William Shakespeare

• Artists

  Favorite actress - Marilyn Monroe

Connections

After a brief courtship, Indira married fellow actor Colin Tierney at a private ceremony. They have a daughter, Evelyn, and they live in Hornsey, North London.

colleague:

Rosabell Sellers

Rosabell Laurenti Sellers is an Italian-American actress. She is known for her role as Tyene Sand in the HBO series Game of Thrones, and as the titular character in the children's series, Mia and Me.

colleague:

Keisha Castle-Hughes

Keisha Castle-Hughes is a New Zealander actress. She rose to prominence for playing Paikea "Pai" Apirana in the film Whale Rider.

colleague:

Nell Free

Nell Tiger Free is an English actress. She is known for her role as Myrcella Baratheon in seasons 5 and 6 of the television series Game of Thrones.

colleague:

Toby Sebastian

Sebastian Toby M. Pugh, known as Toby Sebastian, is an English actor and musician. He is best known for portraying the character of Trystane Martell in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

colleague:

Lena Headey

(born 3 October 1973)

She is an English actress.

colleague:

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is a Danish actor, screenwriter, and producer. He is widely known for playing Ser Jaime Lannister in HBO’s hit series ‘Game of Thrones’. He is also known for appearing in a number of movies, such as ‘Nightwatch’, ‘A Thousand Times Good Night’ and ‘Headhunters’, to name a few.

colleague:

Pedro Pascal

(born April 2, 1975)

He is a Chilean-American actor.

colleague:

Emilia Clarke

(born 23 October 1986)

She is an English actress.

References

• Journal Inspired by Indira Varma
• Indira Varma - Twitter