Scene Stealer

The actor was born as Archana to a Sikh family from Mumbai,and moved to London when she was still a toddler. She recalls wanting to be an actor for as long as she can remember. “Even when I was in school and university,I was acting on the side. My first big break,however,came with East is East in 1998.”

And it was her role in this film as Meenah Khan that got her noticed. This was followed by a variety of films,including Bend It Like Beckham,directed by Gurinder Chaddha,and A Mighty Heart in which she played Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani,which won her The Chopard Trophy for a Breakout Performance at the Cannes Film Festival.

Last year,when Panjabi was offered Kalinda’s character in The Good Wife,she decided to move bag and baggage to New York. Part of the reason she decided to make the shift was that the show was produced by brothers Ridley and Tony Scott. “I had worked with Ridley Scott before and was sure that the production quality would be excellent. I was initially nervous about the cast (popular television actor Julianna Margulies as lead),which is the best in the US. Besides,Kalinda’s character is quirky and interesting.” And though she misses her family back in London,she now considers the Big Apple her second home. “The people I work with have made me feel like family here,” smiles the actor who feels she is as much Indian as she is British and now American.

What makes Panjabi’s recent award stand out is the fact that the opportunities for actors of Asian origin have been limited in the West. That is a changing scenario in the 21st century as we increasingly see actors like Kal Penn,Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes) and Deep Katdare (American Desi) on screen. However,in 1995,when Panjabi started her career,it was still tough. “It probably stems from the fact that you don’t have too many non-Americans writing the scripts for films and television,” she reasons. While the 38-year-old considers herself lucky to have been offered strong characters right from the beginning,she quips,“Why just Indians,most ethnicities,be it Europeans or Chinese,don’t find representation in the visual medium. Television especially should be reflective of the times we live in and the emerging culture where people of all ethnicities cohabit.”

Though the actor — known for the spunk she adds to her characters (the first season of The Good Wife ended with ambiguity over her sexuality) — has done fair amount of work in the film industry,she doesn’t view the medium as superior to television as many of her contemporaries probably do. “I’m happy doing The Good Wife right now and am honestly not even thinking about what I’m going to do next.”

Explaining her stand,she adds,“I’ve learned a lot more over the last one year than I did in my entire career spanning 15 years. When you shoot 22 episodes back to back and get the script merely two days before the shoot,you learn to become more spontaneous and think on your feet. With television,I feel I’ve grown as an actor.”