Zenobia Shroff
{{Short description|American actress}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Zenobia Shroff
|image = File:Shroff Sacred Heart University Film TV Master Program November 2018.jpg
|image_caption = Shroff in 2018
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1965|5|27}}
|birth_place = Bombay, India (present-day Mumbai)
|citizenship = United States
|education = Circle in the Square Theatre School
|occupation = Actress, comedian
|years_active = 1989–present
|known_for = Muneeba Khan in Ms. Marvel{{cite web|url=https://www.mansworldindia.com/entertainment/brown-mom-representation-west-ms-marvel-never-have-i-ever-entertainment-news-moms/|title=Brown Mom Supremacy: Never Have I Ever & Ms. Marvel Represent (Our)Moms Like It's Nobody's Business!|last=Swaroop|first=Ananya|date=August 12, 2022|publisher=Man's World India|website=www.mansworldindia.com|access-date=June 25, 2023}}
}}
Zenobia Shroff (born May 27, 1965) is an Indian-born American actress. Shroff has been an actress, writer, teaching artist and sketch comedian for over 30 years and she is known for her role in the 2017 film The Big Sick,{{cite web | url=https://variety.com/2017/film/spotlight/scene-stealer-zenobia-shroff-as-kumail-nanjianis-mother-in-the-big-sick-1202634347/ | title=Scene Stealer: Zenobia Shroff as Kumail Nanjiani's Mother in 'The Big Sick' | date=8 December 2017 }} and as Muneeba Khan in the Disney+ TV series Ms. Marvel and The Marvels.
Early life
Shroff grew up in a Parsi family in South Bombay, in what is now known as Mumbai.{{cite web|url=https://ew.com/tv/ms-marvel-zenobia-shroff-interview/ |title=Ms. Marvel star Zenobia Shroff talks Marvel motherhood |publisher=Entertainment Weekly |date=2022-06-22}}
Career
Shroff began her professional career at age sixteen as a commercial print model. After seven successful years as a model, she switched to acting. She got her acting start in Mumbai under the mentorship of Pearl Padamsee. She then moved to study acting at New York City's Circle in the Square Theatre School.{{cite web|url=http://elle.in/celebrity/zenobia-shroff/ |title=Zenobia Shroff: The Big Sick changed the game for me |publisher=Elle India |date=2018-05-30}}{{cite web|url=http://www.lassiwithlavina.com/thebuzz/little-zizous-zenobia-shroff-stands-up/html |title=Little Zizou's Zenobia Shroff Stands Up |publisher=Lassi With Lavina |date=2010-10-01}} Soon after, she appeared at the Broadway Castillo Theatre, where she played several roles such as Nora in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House to German avant-gardist Heiner Müller. She also performed in Erotic Adventures in Venice at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and in Milan Kundera's Jacques and His Master.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}
=2007–2016=
In 2007, she was cast as Roxanne in Little Zizou, written and directed by Sooni Taraporevala. For that role she was nominated as best actress at the New York Indian film festival. A few years later, she appeared in When Harry Tries to Marry, an American romantic comedy film. She followed that up with her first Bollywood film, Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu alongside Imran Khan. The film received critical acclaim.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/movies/ek-main-aur-ekk-tu-bollywood-romcom-set-in-las-vegas.html | title=After Mumbai, Letting His Socks Down in Las Vegas | newspaper=The New York Times | date=13 February 2012 | last1=Saltz | first1=Rachel }} Her solo show, Show How to Succeed as an Ethnically Ambiguous Actor premiered at the Planet Connections Festival in June 2016. For that performance she has been nominated as Outstanding Solo Performer.{{cite web|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-off-broadway/article/Planet-Connections-Theatre-Festivity-Awards-Come-to-Cherry-Lane-This-Weekend-Nominees-Announced-20160808 |title=Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Awards Come to Cherry Lane This Weekend; Nominees Announced |publisher=BroadwayWorld |date=2016-08-08}}
Shroff has been a lifelong dancer, starting with the classical Indian temple dance, Bharat Natyam for several years and moving onto jazz and modern as a young adult. She is a founding company member of the Shiamak Davar dance company with whom she toured nationally doing musical theatre including playing Anita in West Side Story, Cabaret, and A Chorus Line.{{cite web | url=https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/ms-marvel-bollywood-wedding-dance-episode-3-kamala-khan | title='Ms. Marvel': The Cast on the Most Challenging Scene — the Bollywood Wedding Dance }}
=2017–present=
She has performed stand-up at the Guild Gallery, the Indo American Arts Council,{{cite web | url=https://www.iaac.us/film.htm | title=Indo-American Arts Council, Inc }} Don't Tell Mama, UCB and the South Asian International Performing Arts Festival.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}} She went on to perform her show, Show How to Succeed as an Ethnically Ambiguous Actor, with over 30 characters in and off-Broadway at the Castillo Theatre in a full run in the summer of 2017.{{cite web | url=http://www.browntaps.org/writing-is-live-2022/ | title=Writing is Live 2022 – Theatre Arts & Performance Studies }} Also in 2017, she was cast as Kumail Nanjiani's mother in The Big Sick, produced by Judd Apatow. The cast was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2018.{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/sag-award-nominations-2018-full-list-1063931/item/outstanding-performance-by-a-cast-a-motion-picture-1064213 |title=SAG Awards: 'Three Billboards,' 'Big Little Lies' Top Nominees |publisher=Hollywood Reporter |date=2017-12-13}}
She has appeared in the American medical drama series The Resident, American political drama television series Madam Secretary, and a recurring role as Priya Ullah in seasons 4 and 5 of The Affair.{{Cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/arts/television/the-affair-recap-season-4-episode-3.html |title='The Affair' Season 4, Episode 3 Recap: Playing the Savior |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2018-07-01|last1=Collins |first1=Sean T.}} In 2020, she voiced one of the many counselors named “Jerry”, in the Disney-Pixar film Soul.
In 2022, she was cast as Muneeba Khan in the Marvel Studios series Ms. Marvel on Disney+. She reprised the role in the 2023 film The Marvels.{{cite web|url=https://www.screenrant.com/captain-marvel-2-characters-show-return-khan-family/|title=Ms. Marvel Star Reveals Show Characters Return In Captain Marvel 2|last=Hussaini|first=Syed Fahadullah|date=September 7, 2021|publisher=Screen Rant|website=www.screenrant.com|access-date=July 15, 2022}}
Personal life
She holds a master's degree in Psychology.{{cite web|url=https://www.iaac.us/zenobia_shroff/index.htm |title=Zenobia Shroff in EXOTIC OBSERVATIONS|publisher=Indo-American Arts Council |date=2010-08-12 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216183800/https://iaac.us/zenobia_shroff/index.htm | archive-date=2018-02-16 | url-status=dead }}
Filmography
{{Pending films key}}
=Film=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="margin-right: 0;" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes ! class="unsortable" | {{tooltip|Refs.|References}} |
|---|
| 1989
| Percy | Vera | | |
| 2008
| Roxanne | |
| 2010
| Geeta Shankar | |
| 2012
| Nicole Braganza | |
| 2016
| Misaligned | Nadia's Mother | Short film | |
| 2017
| Sharmeen | |
| 2019
| (t)here | Geeta (Mother) | Short film |
| 2020
| Su's Mom | Voice role | {{cite web | url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/screens/2020-02-05/sxsw-announces-midnighters-vr-and-more/ | title=SXSW Announces Midnighters, VR and More }}{{cite web | url=https://culturemixonline.com/review-save-yourselves-starring-sunita-mani-and-john-reynolds/ | title=Review: 'Save Yourselves!,' starring Sunita Mani and John Reynolds }} |
| 2020
| Soul | Counselor Jerry | Voice role |
| 2021
| 7 Days | Rita's Mom | |
| 2023
| |
| TBA
| {{Pending film|This Tempting Madness}} | {{TBA}} | Post-production |
=Television=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="margin-right: 0;" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes ! class="unsortable" | {{tooltip|Refs.|References}} |
|---|
| 2018–2019
| Himaya Pravesh | 3 episodes |
| 2018
| Priya Ullah | 6 episodes |
| 2018
| The Greatest American Hero | Leena | TV film | |
| 2018
| Indian Prime Minister Vanya Kharti | Episode: "E Pluribus Unum" |
| 2022
| Main role (6 episodes) | {{cite magazine | url=https://ew.com/tv/ms-marvel-zenobia-shroff-interview/ | title='Ms Marvel' star Zenobia Shroff talks Marvel motherhood | magazine=Entertainment Weekly }} |
References
External links
- {{IMDb name|2801210}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shroff, Zenobia}}
Category:Actresses from Mumbai
Category:Indian film actresses
Category:Indian television actresses
Category:Indian emigrants to the United States
Category:American film actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:American voice actresses
Category:American women comedians
Category:American actresses of Indian descent
Category:American people of Parsi descent
Category:American Zoroastrians
Category:American expatriate actresses in India
Category:Actresses in Hindi cinema
Category:Circle in the Square Theatre School alumni