Padma Lakshmi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Padma Lakshmi |
|---|
 |
| Born |
| 1970 Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Occupation |
| Actress, Model, Writer, TV Host |
| Career milestones |
| Easy Exotic (1999) Padma's Passport (2001) Boom (2003) Sharpe's Challenge (2006) |
Padma Lakshmi (पद्मा लक्ष्मी) (b. 1970) is a New York-based Indian-American model, occasional actress, erstwhile talk show host, and award-winning cookbook author. She was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India and is fluent in five languages - English, Hindi, Italian, Spanish, and Tamil. Her name literally means the "lotus goddess" in Sanskrit.
She is married to novelist Salman Rushdie. Her cookbook Easy Exotic was awarded Best First Book at the 1999 World Cookbook Awards at Versailles. She was host of the Food Network series, Padma's Passport, which is part of the larger series Melting Pot. She has also been a guest host on parts of the British culinary tourism show Planet Food. She hosted the segments on India and Spain. Other notable television roles include a guest appearance as an imperious princess in an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. She was host of Domenica In, Italy's top-rated television show. She also starred in Glitter with Mariah Carey and in Boom with Amitabh Bachchan. In 2006 she starred in ABC's The Ten Commandments with Dougray Scott, Naveen Andrews, and Omar Sharif. She played Sean Bean's nemesis in the iTV film Sharpe's Challenge. She is a graduate of Clark University in Massachusetts, where she majored in Theater Arts.
Beginning in October 2006, she began hosting the Bravo reality show Top Chef 2.
[edit] Modeling Career
Lakshmi's career first started when she was discovered while sitting in a cafe by a high profile modeling agent in Spain. Ever since then, she has walked for top designers such as Emmanuel Ungaro, Ralph Lauren, and Alberta Ferretti and done ad campaigns for Roberto Cavalli and Versus. [1]
[edit] Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Genre | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Unzipped | Documentary (High Fashion) | Herself |
| 1997 | Linda e il brigadiere ep: Il fratello di Linda |
TV Series (Italian, Comedy) | "Indian Lady" |
| 1998 | Figlio di Sandokan, Il | TV Series (Italian, Drama) | N/A |
| 1999 | Caraibi | TV Series (Italian, Adventure) | Malinche |
| 2000 | Planet Food | Documentary (Cooking) | Host |
| 2001 | Glitter | Film (US, Drama) | Sylk |
| 2001 | Melting Pot: Padma's Passport | TV Series (US, Cooking) | Host |
| 2002 | Star Trek: Enterprise ep: Precious Cargo |
TV Series (US, Sci-Fi) | Kaitaama |
| 2003 | Boom | Film (Indian, Drama) | Shiela Bardez |
| 2005 | The Mistress of Spices | Film (Indian, Drama) | Geeta |
| 2006 | The Ten Commandments | TV Series (US, Biblical) | Princess Bithia |
| 2006 | Sharpe ep: Sharpe's Challenge |
TV Movie (Action/History/War) | Madhuvanthi |
| 2006 | Top Chef 2 | TV Series (US, Reality/Cooking) | Host |
