Shenaz Treasurywala (born 29 June 1981) is an Indian actress.

Career

Discovered by a photographer during her first year in college, her first modeling assignment was for the soft drink

Gold Spot Gold Spot was one of the three brands of carbonated soft drink started in India by Parle Bisleri under the initiative of its founder Ramesh Chauhan in 1977 after the exit of Coca-Cola. PepsiCo had already left the Indian market in 1962 due to sl ...

. She also did

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

work for

Akai Akai ( ja, 赤井, ) is a Hong Kong manufacturer of consumer electronics. It was founded as Akai Electric Company Ltd in Tokyo, Japan, in 1946. Grande Holdings in Hong Kong purchased the Akai brand, and now distributes various electronic produ ...

and

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

before MTV Networks Asia hired her to work as a VJ on the '' MTV's Most Wanted'' program. Her acting debut was in the 2001

Telugu film Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, H ...

'' Eduruleni Manishi'', followed by the 2003

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film '' Ishq Vishk'', which earned her a nomination for the best supporting actress award by the Filmfare Film Awards. With her lifelong love of travel, she wrote travel articles for ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'', ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the ...

'', and '' Femina''. As of the early 2010s, Treasurywala resides in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, India and serves as the host of ''

Culture Shock Culture shock is an experience a person may have when one moves to a cultural environment which is different from one's own; it is also the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration ...

'' on the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United ...

. In 2011, she got a recurring role as Rama Patel on the American soap opera '' One Life to Live''. A few months later, she signed a contract with the show until its cancellation in 2012 and then returned as a contract player when the show started airing its webisodes in 2013. Treasury' returned to India to visit her family and was offered a leading role in ''Ishq Vishk'' after meeting director Ken Ghosh at a Mumbai night club. In 2009, she appeared in the films ''Aagey Se Right'' and ''Radio''. She wrote the screenplay for and appeared in the 2011 movie '' Luv Ka The End''. She also appeared in the movie '' Delhi Belly''. She is part of the film '' Main Aur Mr. Riight'' . During 2015, she was a contributor and occasional panelist on ''

The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore ''The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore'' is a 2015–16 American late-night panel talk show hosted by Larry Wilmore that aired for two seasons on Comedy Central. The show was a spin-off of ''The Daily Show'', which featured Wilmore as a recurr ...

'' on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy program ...

in the United States. In 2017, she appeared in the critically acclaimed indie film ''

The Big Sick ''The Big Sick'' is a 2017 American romantic comedy film directed by Michael Showalter and written by Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani. It stars Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Adeel Akhtar, and Anupam Kher. Gordon and Nanji ...

'' where she played

Kumail Nanjiani Kumail Ali Nanjiani (; ur, کمیل علی ننجیانی, ; born May 2, 1978) is a Pakistani-American actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Dinesh in the HBO comedy series ''Silicon Valley'' (2014–2019) and for co-w ...

's sister-in-law. She has also hosted All Women Special Wrestling Event "

WWE Evolution WWE Evolution was a women's professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and NXT UK brand divisions. The event took place on October ...

" on 28 October 2018.

Social activism

In December 2014, days before the release of her film '' Main Aur Mr. Riight'' (on 12 December), Shenaz Treasurywala wrote an open letter to the most powerful people of India including

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

Salman Khan Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. In a film career spanning over thirty years, Khan has received numerous awards, including two Nationa ...

Shah Rukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. Referred to in the media as the " Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood" ...

Aamir Khan Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan (; born 14 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director and producer who works in Hindi films. Through his career spanning over 30 years, Khan has established himself as one of the most notable actors of Indian ci ...

and

Anil Ambani Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (born 4 June 1959) is an Indian businessman. He was the chairman of Reliance Group (also known as Reliance ADA Group), which was created in July 2006 following a demerger from Reliance Industries Limited. He leads a numb ...

on women's safety in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Personal life

Her father is a merchant marine engineer, and she was born in a

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim con ...

family. Treasurywala attended school and college in Mumbai,

St. Xavier's College A multitude of schools and universities have been named after St. Francis Xavier, a Spanish Roman Catholic saint and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. This page lists notable educational institutions named after St. Xavier, arranged by country a ...

. In 2001, after her break-up, she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

where she studied

method acting Method acting, informally known as The Method, is a range of training and rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, u ...

at the

Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Street, ...

. While in New York, she also took a writing course at NYU.

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Treasurywala, Shenaz 1981 births Living people Indian film actresses Indian television actresses Actresses from Mumbai Female models from Mumbai Parsi people Parsi people from Mumbai Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute alumni Indian expatriate actresses in the United States Indian VJs (media personalities) 21st-century Indian actresses