Indira Anne Varma (born 27 September 1973) is a British actress and narrator. 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 ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's '' magnum opus ...

'', ''

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

'', ''

Luther Luther may refer to: People * Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation * Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement * Luther (gi ...

'', ''

Human Target The Human Target is the name of two fictional characters in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first is Fred Venable, while the second is private investigator and bodyguard Christopher Chance who assumes the identities of clients tar ...

'', and ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of '' A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the fir ...

'' (playing

Ellaria Sand Ellaria Sand is a fictional character in the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' series of high fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin and its television adaptation, ''Game of Thrones''. Ellaria first appears in ''A Storm of Swords'' (2000) ...

). In September 2016 she began starring in the ITV/

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

series '' Paranoid'' as DS Nina Suresh.

Early life

Varma was raised in

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

, the only child of an Indian father and a Swiss mother who was of part Genoese Italian descent. Her mother was a graphic designer and her father was an illustrator. She was a member of Musical Youth Theatre Company and graduated from the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

(RADA) in London, in 1995.

Career

Varma has had a number of television and film roles, including '' Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love'' in 1996, ''

Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...

'' in 1998, and '' Bride and Prejudice'' in 2004, and the young Roman wife

Niobe In Greek mythology, Niobe (; grc-gre, Νιόβη ) was a daughter of Tantalus and of either Dione (mythology), Dione, the most frequently cited, or of Eurythemista or Euryanassa, the wife of Amphion and the sister of Pelops and Broteas. Her ...

during the 2005 first season of BBC/ HBO's historical drama series ''

''. 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 This is a list of characters from the British science fiction television programme ''Torchwood'', created by Russell T Davies. This list includes main characters, recurring characters and important guest characters. The main characters typicall ...

in the first and eighth episodes, " Everything Changes" and "

They Keep Killing Suzie ''Torchwood'' is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off from the 2005 revival of long-running science fiction programme ''Doctor Who'', ''Torchwood'' aired four series between 2006 and 2011. The sh ...

", of

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

's science-fiction drama series ''

Torchwood ''Torchwood'' is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off of the 2005 revival of ''Doctor Who'', it aired from 2006 to 2011. The show shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growin ...

''. She appeared as Dr Adrienne Holland in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

medical drama ''

3 lbs ''3 lbs'' (pronounced "three pounds") is an American medical drama television series created by Peter Ocko, that aired on CBS from November 14, 2006 to November 7, 2008, replacing the cancelled series ''Smith''. The show itself was then can ...

'' 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 A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, a ...

'' as

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

Inspector Cate Pritchard. She also played the role of Zoe Luther in the first series of the BBC drama ''

''. Varma played the role of Ilsa Pucci in the second season of the Fox series ''

'' until the show was cancelled on 10 May 2011. In 2014, Varma was cast as

, the paramour of Oberyn Martell in season 4 of the HBO series ''

''. She played the role through season 7. She lent her voice to the Circle mage

Vivienne Vivian (and variants such as Vivien and Vivienne) is a given name, and less often a surname, derived from a Latin name of the Roman Empire period, masculine ''Vivianus'' and feminine '' Viviana'', which survived into modern use because it is the n ...

, in the 2014 role-playing video game '' Dragon Age: Inquisition''. Later on, she also gave her voice to Katherine Proudmoore in ''

Battle for Azeroth ''World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth'' is the seventh expansion pack for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) ''World of Warcraft'', following ''Legion''. It was announced at BlizzCon on November 3, 2017. In contrast t ...

'', one of the most recent expansion in the MMO role-playing game ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azer ...

''. In 2016, she played the lead role of DC Nina Suresh in the eight-episode British television drama '' Paranoid'', streamed worldwide on

. Varma portrays a reform-minded corrections official in the 2020 ABC

legal drama A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice play ...

'' For Life'', and appears in the ''

Obi-Wan Kenobi Obi-Wan Kenobi () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Within the original trilogy, Obi-Wan is a Jedi Master as a supporting character and is portrayed by English actor Alec Guinness. In the later-released prequel trilogy, ...

'' series for

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

, as well as '' Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One''. In 2022, Varma began narrating the ''Witches'' series of audio books by Terry Pratchett.

Theatre

In 1997, Varma appeared in two

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

plays: she portrayed Audrey in ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 h ...

'' at the

Nottingham Playhouse Nottingham Playhouse is a theatre in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. It was first established as a repertory theatre in 1948 when it operated from a former cinema in Goldsmith Street. Directors during this period included Val May and F ...

, and later that year played Bianca in ''

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cyp ...

'' at the National Theatre, London. In 2000 to 2001, she appeared in

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...

and Di Trevis's NT stage adaptation of Pinter's ''The Proust Screenplay'', ''

Remembrance of Things Past ''In Search of Lost Time'' (french: À la recherche du temps perdu), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French ...

'', based on ', by

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous ...

. In the summer of 2001, she played Gila in '' One for the Road'', by

, at

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

in New York City. In 2002, she played Sasha Lebedieff in ''

Ivanov Ivanov, Ivanoff or Ivanow (masculine, bg, Иванов, russian: ИвановSometimes the stress is on Ива́нов in Bulgarian if it is a middle name, or in Russian as a rare variant of pronunciation), or Ivanova (feminine, bg, Иванов ...

'' by

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

at the National Theatre and Bunty Mainwaring in ''

The Vortex ''The Vortex'' is a play in three acts by the English writer and actor Noël Coward. The play depicts the sexual vanity of a rich, ageing beauty, her troubled relationship with her adult son, and drug abuse in British society circles after the ...

'' by

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

at the Donmar Theatre, London. In 2004, she played Sabina in ''

The Skin of Our Teeth ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' is a play by Thornton Wilder that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It opened on October 15, 1942, at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, before moving to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway on November 18, ...

'' by

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel '' The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and '' The Skin of Our Teeth'' — ...

at the

Young Vic The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Kwame Kwei-Armah has been Artistic Director since February 201 ...

Theatre Theatre, London. In 2008, she played Nadia Baliye in ''

The Vertical Hour ''The Vertical Hour'' is a play by David Hare. The play addresses the relationship of characters with opposing views on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and also explores psychological tension between public lives and private lives. Productions The pl ...

'' by David Hare at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...

London. In 2009, she played Olivia in Shakespeare's ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vi ...

'' with Donmar West End at

Wyndham's Theatre Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the archit ...

, London. In 2012, she played Jessica in Terry Johnson's ''

Hysteria Hysteria is a term used colloquially to mean ungovernable emotional excess and can refer to a temporary state of mind or emotion. In the nineteenth century, hysteria was considered a diagnosable physical illness in women. It is assumed that ...

'' at the

Theatre Royal, Bath The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, was built in 1805. A Grade II* listed building, it has been described by the Theatres Trust as "One of the most important surviving examples of Georgian theatre architecture". It has a capacity for an audien ...

. In 2013 she played Miss Cutts in '' The Hothouse'' by

in the Trafalgar Transformed season at Trafalgar Studios. In 2014, Varma played Tamora, Queen of the Goths, in

Lucy Bailey Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Luci ...

's "gore-fest" production of ''

Titus Andronicus ''Titus Andronicus'' is a tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen as his attempt to emul ...

'' at

Shakespeare's Globe Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays, in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames. The original theatre was built in ...

. In 2015, she appeared alongside

Ralph Fiennes Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes ( ; born 22 December 1962) is an English actor, film producer, and director. A Shakespeare interpreter, he excelled onstage at the Royal National Theatre before having further success at the Royal Shak ...

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's ''

Man and Superman ''Man and Superman'' is a four-act drama written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. The series was written in response to a call for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. ''Man and Superman'' opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London o ...

'' at the National Theatre. In 2020, pre-lockdown, she starred in Chekhov's ''

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' ( rus, Ча́йка, r=Cháyka, links=no) is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatises ...

'' as Irina alongside ''Game of Thrones'' co-star Emilia Clarke at the Playhouse Theatre. Her 2019 performance in ''

Present Laughter ''Present Laughter'' is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1939 but not produced until 1942 because the Second World War began while it was in rehearsal, and the British theatres closed. The title is drawn from a song in Shakespeare's ''T ...

'' at

The Old Vic The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...

theatre earned Varma an

Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role The Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial London theatre. The Oliviers were established as the Society of West End Th ...

Personal life

Varma and her husband Colin Tierney live with their daughter in

Hornsey Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood and Alexandra Park to the ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nor ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Varma, Indira 1973 births Living people Actresses from Somerset People from Bath, Somerset Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art British actresses of Indian descent British Shakespearean actresses English film actresses English people of Indian descent English people of Italian descent English people of Swiss descent English stage actresses English television actresses English video game actresses English voice actresses Method actors Audiobook narrators Laurence Olivier Award winners Swiss film actresses 20th-century English actresses 20th-century Swiss actresses 21st-century English actresses 21st-century Swiss actresses