Anjali Bhimani is an American actress. She is best known for voicing

Symmetra Symmetra, full name Satya Vaswani, a character who first appeared in the 2016 video game ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'', a Blizzard Entertainment–developed first-person shooter, and the Overwatch, resulting franchise. Voiced by Anjal ...

in the video game ''

Overwatch ''Overwatch'' (abbreviated as OW) is a multimedia franchise centered on a series of multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) video games developed by Blizzard Entertainment. ''Overwatch (video game), Overwatch'' was released in 2016 with a success ...

'' and Rampart in the video game ''

Apex Legends ''Apex Legends'' is a 2019 Battle royale game, battle royale-hero shooter video game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, set in the same science fiction universe as Respawn's ''Titanfall'' series. It is offered ...

''.

Early life

Bhimani was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, the daughter of doctors Ela and Bharat Bhimani. She is of Indian descent and grew up in

Orange County, California Orange County (officially the County of Orange; often initialized O.C.) is a county (United States), county located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population ...

. She attended

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Career

Bhimani's long time collaboration with

Mary Zimmerman Mary Zimmerman (born August 23, 1960) is an American theatre and opera director and playwright from Nebraska. She is an ensemble member of the Lookingglass Theatre Company, the Manilow Resident Director at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinoi ...

began in 1997 when she appeared as an Indian princess in ''Mirror of the Invisible World'', adapted from the 12th century Persian epic ''

Haft Peykar ''Haft Peykar'' (), also known as ''Bahramnameh'' (, ''The Book of Bahram'', referring to the Sasanian emperor Bahram V), is a romantic epic poem by Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi, written in 1197. This poem is one of his five works known collecti ...

''. She played Greek mythological character

Myrrha Myrrha (; ), also known as Smyrna (), is the mother of Adonis in Greek mythology. She was transformed into a myrrh tree after having intercourse with her father, and gave birth to Adonis in tree form. Although the tale of Adonis has Semitic r ...

in Zimmerman-directed ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

'' world premiere produced by

Lookingglass Theatre Company Lookingglass Theatre Company is a non-profit theater company located in Chicago, Illinois. History Lookingglass was founded in 1988 by David Schwimmer, David Catlin, Eva Barr, Thom Cox, Lawrence DiStasi, Joy Gregory, David Kersnar, and Andy Whit ...

in 1998 and its

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

opening at the

Second Stage Theatre Second Stage Theater is a non-profit theater company that presents work by living American writers both on and off Broadway. It is based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and is affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Founded in 1979 ...

in 2001. Drama critic Albert Williams, in his review for the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...

'', called Bhimani a "stunning dancer". She made her Broadway debut when ''Metamorphoses'' opened at

Circle in the Square Theatre The Circle in the Square Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 50th Street, within the basement of Paramount Plaza, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. The current Broadway theater, completed in 1972, i ...

(2002). In 2004, Bhimani became an understudy for

Ayesha Dharker 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. Her other film roles include ...

and

Madhur Jaffrey Madhur Jaffrey Order of the British Empire, CBE (née Bahadur; born 13 August 1933) is an Indian-born British-American actress, cookbook and travel writer, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing Indian cuisine to the weste ...

's characters in

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

's musical ''

Bombay Dreams ''Bombay Dreams'' is a Bollywood-themed musical, with music by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Don Black and the book by Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan, originally produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The London production opened in 2002 and ran for two ...

''. During the play's

The Broadway Theatre The Broadway Theatre (formerly Universal's Colony Theatre, B.S. Moss's Broadway Theatre, Earl Carroll's Broadway Theatre, and Ciné Roma) is a Broadway theater at 1681 Broadway (near 53rd Street) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan ...

production Dharker left the play and Bhimani took over her role. She appeared as The Sparrow in Czech opera '' Brundibár'' (2006). Quake, a play Bhimani co-produced and co-directed opened at the Open Fist Theatre Company's First Look Festival of New Plays in 2011. For ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' is an 1894 collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who ...

'' she re-teamed with Zimmerman and played the role of mother wolf in its 2013

Goodman Theatre Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization. Part of its present theater complex occupies the ...

production. Bhimani has appeared in TV series including ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2 ...

'', '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'', ''

Journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

'', ''

Shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

'', ''

Flight of the Conchords Flight of the Conchords are a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's c ...

'', and ''

Modern Family ''Modern Family'' is an American television sitcom, created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, that aired on ABC for 11 seasons from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. The series follows the lives of three diverse but interrelated fa ...

''. She voiced the character

in the

first-person shooter A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...

video game ''

'', and shared the 2016 Behind the Voice Actors Award for Best Vocal Ensemble in a Video Game with her co-voice actors for the game. In 2021, she guest starred on ''

Exandria Unlimited ''Exandria Unlimited'' (''ExU'') is an American actual play anthology web series where the cast plays ''Dungeons & Dragons'' using the fifth edition ruleset. It is set in the Exandria campaign setting and is a spin-off of the web series ''Critica ...

'', a spinoff of the

actual play Actual play, also called live play, is a genre of podcast or web show in which people play tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) for an audience. Actual play often encompasses in-character interactions between players, storytelling from the gam ...

web series ''

Critical Role ''Critical Role'' is an American web series in which a group of professional voice actors play ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The show started streaming partway through the cast's first campaign in March 2015. Campaign one ended in October 2017 aft ...

''. In 2023, she played Queen Amangeaux Epicée du Peche in ''Dimension 20: The Ravening War''. In March 2025, she released her first ''Dungeons & Dragons''

adventure module An adventure is a playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game. These can be constructed by gamemasters for their players, and are also released by game publishers as pre-made adventure modules. Different types of designs exist, including ...

– titled ''The Malady of Minarrh'' – on

D&D Beyond D&D Beyond (DDB) is the official digital toolset and game companion for ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fifth edition. DDB hosts online versions of the official ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fifth edition books, including rulebooks, adventures, and other supple ...

via her company Road to Ithaka Press.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Web series

Stage

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhimani, Anjali 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actors from Cleveland Actual play performers American actresses of Indian descent American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American video game actresses American voice actresses Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)