Indira Varma

Overview
Born September 27, 1973 in Bath, Somerset, England, UK
Height 5′ 7″ (1.7 m)
Mini-Bio
Indira Anne Varma (born 27 September 1973) is a British actress. Her film debut and first major role was in Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. She has gone on to appear in the television series The Canterbury Tales, Rome, Luther, Human Target, and Game of Thrones (as Ellaria Sand). In September 2016, she began starring in the ITV/Netflix series Paranoid, as DS Nina Suresh.

Varma was born in Bath, Somerset, the only child of an Indian father and a Swiss mother who was of part Genoese Italian descent; her parents were relatively elderly and were often mistaken for her grandparents. She was a member of Musical Youth Theatre Company and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, in 1995.

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 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 cancelled 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 cancelled 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 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 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.

Spouse
Colin Tierney (1996 – present) ( 1 child)
Trivia
Father is Indian and her mother is Swiss.
Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1992-1995.
2015 Award: Behind The Voice Actors Awards: Won Best Vocal Ensemble in a Video Game for “Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014)” by Mike Laidlaw.
She played her first large role in the 1996 Indian film Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, which was directed by Mira Nair.
She was born in Bath, England to a Swiss-Italian mother and an Indian father. She later settled in London with her husband, Colin Tierney, and her daughter.
She performed in a 1997 production of Shakespeare’s Othello at London’s National Theatre.
She joined England’s Musical Youth Theatre Company and later trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Mother, with Colin Tierney, of daughter Evelyn.
Personal Quotes (6)
[about her drama training] I grew up, psychologically and emotionally. You were constantly asked to delve deep into yourself. You know, method acting and all that. In Improv you’d think to yourself, “Right. My character’s been raped, and beaten up, and now’s she’s tied up in this room”. And you’d say to people, “Ooh. Could you throw me down the stairs before my improvisation and tie me up?” It wasn’t a case of acting, it was where you became the person. Ridiculous, but really good fun.
I’ve been doing serious acting for as long as I’ve been working, but sadly, most Asians don’t attend plays or tune into what they consider arty dramas, but I know they’ll watch Bride & Prejudice (2004). It’s not exactly serious acting, but at least I won’t be seen as the porn star that some people think I am!
[Asiana magazine, August 2004] The star system in India takes some getting used to. The divide between rich and poor is huge as it is, but if you’re a film star, you’re placed way up there and everyone around expects you to behave like you’re a superior being or something. There are people hanging around all day waiting to bring you a glass of water or carry something for you, anything to show you they’re not worthy. It’s crazy. For the British Asian stars among the cast, who grew up minus servants and peons waiting on them hand on foot, or feeling any particular need to act the star when off camera, all this seemed a bit much. For a while, they decided to put it down to different strokes. Until [Indira and co-star and “soulmate” Nitin Ganatra] decided, “Sod this. Let’s take the piss.”
[Asiana magazine, August 2004] I’m as insecure as the next girl when it comes to the way I look, but I also know anyone can be made to look much better than they are, whether that’s through cosmetic surgery and trick photography or make-up and a flattering dress. Other people’s glamor only becomes a problem when you become obsessed with wanting to look like them. I can do glamorous if a part or a photo shoot requires it, but I don’t want to live glamorous.
[in Asiana magazine, August 2004, about Aishwarya Rai Bachchan] She’s always working, if she isn’t acting she’s doing a dance show or singing at some billionaire’s party or attending some gala premiere. I wanted to shake her and scream, “Call this a life? Take a holiday for God’s sake!” But she surrounds herself with yes-men who treat her like a goddess – she’s in a bubble and if she’s happy I guess that’s cool.
[Asiana magazine, August 2004, about Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s acting] As an actor, I love to transform that magic, to step inside a new role and make it part of my skin, my being. And she, well, she looks the same. She has the same make-up artist for every movie. I wanted to ask her, “Don’t you want to be in something where no one recognizes you?” The whole concept of method acting was like an alien concept, but it does exist. Look at Om Puri, look at Shabana Azmi. Jesus, she’d never even seen a Satyajit Ray movie!