Ayesha Dharker
{{short description|British actress (born 1978)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ayesha Dharker
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1978|3|16|df=y}}
| birth_place = Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
| spouse = {{Marriage|Robert Taylor|May 2010}}
| education =
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1989–present
| notable_works =
| module =
}}
Ayesha Dharker (born 16 March 1978) is a British actress, known for her appearance as Queen Jamillia, the Queen of Naboo, in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, and for her stage performances.{{Cite web |title=Ayesha Dharker |url=https://blackgold.org/Author/Home?author=%22Dharker,%20Ayesha,%22 |access-date=11 October 2022 |website=Black Gold Cooperative Library System |language=en}}
Her other film roles include starring as a young woman brainwashed into contemplating becoming a suicide bomber in the Tamil film The Terrorist (1997), for which she was awarded Best Artistic Contribution by an Actress at the Cairo International Film Festival and nominated for a National Film Award for Best Actress.{{citation needed| date=July 2019}}
She has also appeared in Outsourced and The Mistress of Spices, television series such as Arabian Nights, and the West End and Broadway musical Bombay Dreams.
Family
Dharker was born on 16 March 1978 in Mumbai, India.{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/culture/the-rise-and-rise-of-ayesha-dharker/cid/1321851 |title=The rise and rise of Ayesha Dharker |last=Roy |first=Amit |date=15 May 2016 |work=The Telegraph (Kolkota) |access-date=19 July 2019}}
She is the daughter of Imtiaz Dharker, a poet, artist and documentary film-maker, and Anil Dharker, a columnist and an ex-editor of the Indian men's magazine Debonair.[http://www.sawnet.org/whoswho/?Dharker+Ayesha SAWNET: Who's Who: Ayesha Dharker] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625124009/http://www.sawnet.org/whoswho/?Dharker+Ayesha |date=25 June 2016 }}{{Cite web |date=2 June 2022 |title=Who Is Ayesha Dharker Husband Robert Taylor? Inside 12 Years Of Married Life Of Actress |url=https://www.thelocalreport.in/who-is-ayesha-dharker-husband-robert-taylor-inside-12-years-of-married-life-of-actress/ |access-date=19 February 2023 |website=Thelocalreport.in |language=en-US}} Her father is from India and her mother, born in Lahore, was also raised in the United Kingdom.{{Cite news |title=The rise and rise of Ayesha Dharker |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/culture/the-rise-and-rise-of-ayesha-dharker/cid/1321851 |access-date=19 February 2023 |website=The Telegraph (India)}}
In May 2010 she married Robert Taylor in St Giles Cripplegate, London.{{Cite web |url=https://www.weddingsutra.com/blog/ayesha-dharkers-london-wedding-2/ |title=Ayesha Dharker's London Wedding |date=30 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100603080541/http://weddingsutra.com/blog/index.php/2010/05/30/ayesha-dharkers-london-wedding-2/ |archive-date=3 June 2010}}{{Cite news |title=Indo-Brit wedding for Ayesha |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/news/indo-brit-wedding-for-ayesha/articleshow/5961371.cms |access-date=19 February 2023 |issn=0971-8257}}
Career
Dharker made her screen debut in the 1989 François Villiers film Manika, une vie plus tard. She subsequently went on to star in many American, French and Indian films. She has had many television roles in the UK, particularly in Cutting It and Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee, in which she co-starred with Meera Syal.
In the international award-winning film The Terrorist (1999), she played the lead character Malli, a role that earned her a nomination for the National Film Award for Best Actress in India and the Cairo Film Festival award for Best Artistic Contribution by an Actress.
Dharker's most internationally recognised role came in 2002 when she played Queen Jamillia, the Queen of Naboo, in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. In the same year she appeared in the critically acclaimed Anita and Me. Dharker starred in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Bombay Dreams, both in London's West End and on Broadway (2004). She also starred in The Mistress of Spices (2005).
She has appeared in the episode "Planet of the Ood" of the long-running BBC sci-fi television series, Doctor Who as Solana Mercurio.
In 2006, she played the role of Asha in the film Outsourced.
In 2008, she played the role of Tara Mandal in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.[http://www.itv.com/Soaps/coronationstreet/newsandgossip/Bollywoodactresstojoincast765/default.html Indian actress cast] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080824112543/http://www.itv.com/Soaps/coronationstreet/newsandgossip/Bollywoodactresstojoincast765/default.html |date=24 August 2008 }} ITV
In 2010, she played doctor's wife Kamini Sharma opposite Sanjeev Bhaskar in the BBC's comedy-drama series The Indian Doctor.
In 2017, Dharker began playing Nina Karnik in a returning role on the long-running BBC drama Holby City.
In 2020, she appeared as Dr Sarai in The Father, which was nominated for an Academy Award. On 16 January 2022, Dharker appeared in Vera in the episode "As the Crow Flies" in the role of Anika Naidu.
Audiobooks
Dharker was the narrator for the audiobook version of Brick Lane by Monica Ali (2003).
Filmography
= Films =
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Film ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1989
| Manika Kallatil | |
| 1992
| Amrita H. Pal | |
| 1997
| Saaz | Kuhu Vrundavan | |
| rowspan=2| 1999
| Leela | |
| The Terrorist ({{langx|ta-Latn|Theeviravaathi}})
| Malli | Cairo International Film Festival Award for Best Artistic Contribution by an Actress |
| 2000
| Leela | |
| 2002
| Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones | |
| 2002
| Daljeet Kumar | |
| rowspan=2| 2005
| Hameeda | |
| Colour Me Kubrick: A True...ish Story
| Dr. Stukeley | |
| 2006
| Asha Bhatawdekar | |
| 2007
| Opama Menon | |
| 2010
| Radhakka | |
| 2020
| Dr. Sarai | |
= Television =
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1991
| Misteri della giungla nera, I | Young girl | |
| 1995
| | |
| 2000
| Coral Lips | |
| 2001
| Doctors | Meena Chauhan | |
| 2002
| Sunni Khadir | |
| rowspan=2| 2003
| Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee | Chila | |
| Doctors
| Mina Patel | |
| 2005
| Mary Sharman | "Subterraneans" S5:E5&6 |
| 2008
| Solana Mercurio | Episode: "Planet of the Ood" |
| 2008–09
| Tara Mandal | |
| 2010-2013
| Kamini Sharma | |
| 2015
| Yasmeen Khan | |
| 2017
|Nina Karnik |Regular Role |
| 2021
| Tanvi Lal | |
= Theatre =
| class="wikitable" |
| Year
!Title !Role !Notes |
|---|
| 1993
| Final Solutions |NCPA |
| 2001
| Sita |
| 2002
| Rani | Apollo |
| 2006
| Mephistophilis |
| 2010
|Arabian Nights |Shaharazade |
| 2010
|Disconnect |Vidya |
| 2013
| The Djinns of Eidgah |
| 2015
|Emilia |Royal Shakespeare Company |
| 2015
|Daljit |Birmingham Rep / Theatre Royal Stratford East |
| 2016
|A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Play for the Nation |Titania |Royal Shakespeare Company |
| 2016
|The Island Nation | |Arcola |
| 2017
|Hijabi Monologues | |Bush Theatre |
| 2018
| Pericles | Simonida |Olivier Theatre |
| 2019
|Aumerle |
| 2022
|The Book of Dust, La Belle Sauvage |Marisa Coulter |Bush Theatre |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=0223499|name=Ayesha Dharker}}
- [https://soundcloud.com/american-theatre-wing/episode8 Ayesha Dharker and Manu Narayan] – Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dharker, Ayesha}}
Category:21st-century British actresses
Category:Actresses from Mumbai
Category:Actresses in Hindi cinema
Category:Actresses in Tamil cinema
Category:British expatriate actresses in India
Category:British soap opera actresses
Category:English expatriates in India
Category:English film actresses
Category:English musical theatre actresses
Category:English radio actresses
Category:English stage actresses
Category:English television actresses