Archie Panjabi

Early life and education

Archana Panjabi was born 31 May 1972 in Edgware, London, to Govind and Padma Panjabi, both Sindhi Hindu immigrants from India. Her ancestry belongs to Sindh, now in Pakistan; her parents settled in India after the Partition of India.

She graduated from Brunel University with a degree in management studies in 1994. She is also trained in ballet.

Career

Panjabi has appeared in film and television, from early appearances in the 1999 comedy film East is East to the BBC television series Life on Mars. Her first Hollywood role, as a British diplomat, was in the Oscar-winning The Constant Gardener, released in 2005. One of her highest profile film roles was in the 2002 comedy release Bend It Like Beckham. Panjabi then landed the role of witty and wisecracking office colleague Gemma in the 2006 Ridley Scott-directed romantic comedy A Good Year, alongside Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard.

Panjabi next appeared in 2007 with Angelina Jolie in the film adaptation of A Mighty Heart, a book by Mariane Pearl, wife of the journalist Daniel Pearl. Panjabi played the role of former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani. In 2008, she played the role of Chandra Dawkin in Traitor.

She provided the voices for several characters in the British children's television animation Postman Pat. She lent her voice to the video game Dead Space: Extraction. Panjabi appeared on the BBC Four World Cinema Award show in February 2008, arguing the merits of five international hits such as The Lives of Others and Pan's Labyrinth with Jonathan Ross and Christopher Eccleston. In 2009, she portrayed an MI5 agent in the French movie Espion(s), and in the same year she joined the cast of the new CBS television series The Good Wife as Kalinda Sharma, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. Panjabi is the first actor of Indian descent to win an Emmy award.

In 2010, she played Saamiya Nasir in the British comedy The Infidel. On 28 May 2012, she was cast as pathologist Tanya Reed Smith in BBC Two drama series The Fall. Panjabi appeared as Blaise in the BBC World Service radio series Westway. After leaving The Good Wife in 2015, she guest starred in Fox comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She joined the cast of Shetland series 3.

In 2016, it was announced that she will star in ABC anthology drama series The Jury as the show's protagonist, Kim Dempsey. She also joined the cast of NBC drama Blindspot.

In December 2017, Panjabi commented in The Daily Telegraph on the improvement for offers of parts for actors from ethnic groups "I think there's definitely been an acknowledgement of there being a lack of diversity...". In an interview with The Guardian in February 2018, subsequent to her The Good Wife success, Panjabi ruefully recalled "A US talent agent once told me an Indian woman could never have a career in Hollywood". She also starred as Reece Shearsmith's third love interest, in the ITV drama The Widower, first aired in August 2019. She starred in TNT's drama Snowpiercer in Season three in 2022.

In May 2021, Panjabi voiced Depa Billaba in the series premiere of Star Wars: The Bad Batch.

In September 2024, it was reported by Deadline that Panjabi had been cast in the fifteenth series of Doctor Who. At the end of "The Interstellar Song Contest" it was revealed that she is playing the newest incarnation of The Rani, a villain not seen since the 1993 special Dimensions in Time.

Philanthropy

Panjabi was appointed the first Pratham USA Ambassador, representing the largest educational movement in India. She is a celebrity participant in the Rotary International's "This Close" public service campaign to end polio. In support of women's rights, she has partnered with Amnesty International to head their Stop Violence Against Women campaign to change the "no recourse to public funds" rule that traps women in a cycle of violence. On 9 February 2011, Panjabi walked in The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection Fashion Show to increase awareness of the danger of heart disease, the number one killer of women. The Harvard Foundation and Office for the Arts at Harvard University invited Panjabi to participate in their Artist in Residence Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to share her creative process as an actress.

Awards

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Archie Panjabi

Panjabi was awarded the Chopard Trophy at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007. She was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for The Good Wife, winning in 2010. She won an NAACP Image Award in 2011 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for the same role. She was also nominated for three SAG Awards with her co-stars of The Good Wife for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

Personal life

Panjabi married Rajesh Nihalani, a bespoke tailor, in 1998 in an arranged marriage. The couple have a daughter and son together.

Filmography

Film

Television

Television films

Radio

References

References

1. Mike Rose, cleveland com. (31 May 2024). "Famous birthdays list for today, May 31, 2024 includes celebrities Clint Eastwood, Brooke Shields".
2. (24 November 2019). "Archie Panjabi (British Actress) Bio, Wiki, Career, Net Worth, Husband, Wife, Net Worth, Parents".
3. Kaufman, Joann. (1 September 2010). "A Cultural Conversation with Archie Panjabi". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
4. Paul, Nisha. (October 2007). "Mighty Sensational". verveonline.com.
5. Ilahi, Khalid. (2007). "Archie Panjabi, Exclusive chat for A Mighty Heart". eventcombo.com.
6. (2012). "The Good Wife Cast: Archie Panjabi". CBS.
7. (20 July 2011). "Honorary degree for acclaimed actress Archie Panjabi". Brunel University London.
8. (May 2012). "It's Evening in America".
9. "Archie Panjabi". The Guardian.
10. (15 September 2017). "Only 1 Asian Actor Has Ever Won An Emmy". BuzzFeedNews.
11. (12 July 2018). "Emmys: Sandra Oh Makes History as First Woman of Asian Descent Nominated for Lead Actress in Drama Series". The Hollywood Reporter.
12. (12 July 2018). "With a Lead-Actress Emmy Nomination, Sandra Oh Just Made History".
13. (30 August 2010). "Indian Origin Actress Archie Panjabi Wins Her First Emmy". Outlook.
14. Munn, Patrick. (28 May 2012). "The Good Wife Star Archie Panjabi Cast in BBC Two's 'The Fall'". TVWise.
15. Tartaglione, Nancy. (9 April 2015). "Archie Panjabi, Ciaran Hinds Trek To 'Shetland' For BBC Drama's Third Season".
16. Goldberg, Lesley. (29 January 2016). "Archie Panjabi to Star in ABC Anthology Drama 'The Jury'".
17. (22 June 2016). "Archie Panjabi joins the cast of Blindspot for season two".
18. (30 December 2017). "Archie Panjabi: I hope 'Next of Kin' drama will spur debate on radicalisation". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
19. Panjabi, Archie. (3 February 2018). "Archie Panjabi Interview". The Guardian.
20. Cao, Caroline. (4 May 2021). "Star Wars: The Bad Batch retcons a Jedi backstory that's key to Rebels".
21. (17 September 2024). "Archie Panjabi To Play 'Doctor Who' Villain In New Season From Disney+ And BBC". Deadline.
22. (17 May 2025). "Archie Panjabi joins Doctor Who as legendary character the Rani".
23. Gooden, Tai. (17 May 2025). "DOCTOR WHO's Mid-Credits Scene Reveals the Truth About Mrs. Flood".
24. (25 August 2011). "Archie Panjabi Appointed as Pratham Ambassador".
25. "Rotary shares Polio Eradication message". Rotary International.
26. (28 February 2008). "Violence against women: Movie star leads battle to overturn 'unjust' UK law". Amnesty International.
27. "The Heart Truth Event Photos". National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; National Institutes of Health.
28. "Archie named 'Artist in Residence' at Harvard".
29. "TV star Panjabi spends two days at Harvard".
30. (2010-09-05). "Archie Panjabi's husband charged with theft". The Times of India.
31. (29 May 2024). "For 'Under the Bridge,' Archie Panjabi mined a mother's loss: 'I could not control the pain'". Los Angeles Times.
32. (2015-06-04). "Actress Archie Panjabi and her son arrive at the premiere of Warner...".
33. Ferguson, LaToya. (5 October 2015). "Brooklyn Nine-Nine subverts expectations to keep the laughs going". [[The A.V. Club]].
34. (June 2025). "(BRK-302) "The Funeral"". The Futon Critic.
35. "Bull News on CBS". ViacomCBS.