Zuleikha Robinson born in 1977 is a British actress. She first came to attention as Yves Adele Harlow, a mysterious thief on the 2001 series '' The Lone Gunmen''. She has appeared in the films '' Hidalgo'' (2004), ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan taken out on behalf of his dear friend, Bassanio, and provided by a ...

'' (2004) and '' The Namesake'' (2006). Robinson was a regular cast member on the series '' Lost'' (2009–10), the political thriller ''

Homeland A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethnic natio ...

'' (2012) and the drama ''

The Following ''The Following'' is an American crime thriller television series created by Kevin Williamson (screenwriter), Kevin Williamson, and jointly produced by Outerbanks Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. The The Following (season 1), first s ...

'' (2015). In 2019, she joined the cast of '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' for their 21st season, in the recurring role of Assistant District Attorney Vanessa Hadid.

Early life and education

Zuleikha Robinson was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, and brought up in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

by an Indian-Burmese mother and an English father. She is also of Scottish, Burmese, Indian, Malay, and Iranian descent.Evening Standard Magazine (11 December 2009) She is a graduate of the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a Private college, private drama school with two locations, one in New York City and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Career

Robinson made her film debut in the 2000 experimental film ''

Timecode A timecode (alternatively, time code) is a sequence of numeric codes generated at regular intervals by a timing synchronization system. Timecode is used in video production, show control and other applications which require temporal coordinatio ...

''. She gained attention on the 2001 series '' The Lone Gunmen'', part of ''The X-Files'' franchise. She played Yves Adele Harlow, a mysterious thief who often aided (and sometimes hindered) the starring trio. Robinson's first lead role brought her to

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, playing a 19th-century Arabian princess named Jazira, opposite

Viggo Mortensen Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. (; born October 20, 1958) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received nominations for three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. Mortensen made his film debut with a small role in ...

and

Omar Sharif Omar Sharif (, ; born Michel Yusef Dimitri Chalhoub ; 10 April 1932 – 10 July 2015) was an Egyptian actor, generally regarded as one of his country's greatest male film stars. He began his career in his native country in the 1950s. He is bes ...

, in Disney's $80 million Western epic '' Hidalgo'' (2004), directed by

Joe Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston II (born May 13, 1950) is an American film director, producer, writer, and visual effects artist. He is best known for directing effects-driven films, including '' Honey, I Shrunk the Kids'' (1989), '' The Rocketeer' ...

. The film tells the story of long-distance endurance horse rider, Frank Hopkins. In 2006, she played a Bengali character called Moushumi Mazumdar in

Mira Nair Mira Nair (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian-American filmmaker based in New York City. Her production company is Mirabai Films. Among her films are '' Mississippi Masala'', '' The Namesake'', the Golden Lion–winning '' Monsoon Wedding'', ...

's acclaimed film '' The Namesake'', based on the book of the same name. In 2007, Robinson had a supporting role in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series ''

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

'', and the following year played Eva Marquez, a

NYPD The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

detective, in the Fox police drama ''

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''Factory (trading post), fac ...

''. Robinson joined the cast of '' Lost'' in 2009 during its fifth season, as recurring character Ilana Verdansky, and was promoted to series regular for the sixth season. In 2012, she was cast in the second season of ''

'' in a recurring role as Roya Hammad. Robinson also played a supporting role in the drama thriller film '' The Boy''. In 2014, Robinson was cast in ''

Intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

'' as Amelia Hayes, Gabriel's wife and a former CIA field officer. In 2016, Robinson was cast as Lady Capulet in the ABC period drama ''

Still Star-Crossed ''Still Star-Crossed'' is an American period drama television series developed by Heather Mitchell and based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Melinda Taub, itself a sequel to William Shakespeare's '' Romeo & Juliet''. The series is produced ...

'' produced by

ShondaLand Shondaland (stylized as ShondaLand from 2005 to 2016 and shondaland thereafter) is an American television production company founded by television writer and producer Shonda Rhimes. She founded it to be one of the production companies of her fir ...

. Since 2019, she has a recurring role on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' as Assistant District Attorney Vanessa Hadid, bureau chief of sex crimes at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.

Personal life

Robinson's brother is field botanist

Alastair Robinson Alastair S. Robinson (born 1980) is a taxonomist and field botanist specialising in the carnivorous plant genus ''Nepenthes'', for which he is regarded as a world authority.Ellison, A. & Adamec, L. eds., 2017. Contributing Author Information ...

. She was married to

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

director Sean Doyle from 2009 to 2014.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Zuleikha Living people 1977 births Actresses from London Anglo-Burmese people Anglo-Indian people English television actresses English film actresses English people of Burmese descent English people of Indian descent English people of Iranian descent English people of Malay descent English people of Malaysian descent English people of Scottish descent 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses