Age: 52
Birthplace: Edgware, Greater London, England
Archana "Archie" Panjabi (born 31 May 1972) is a British actress, best known for her role as Kalinda Sharma on The Good Wife. Her portrayal has earned her a Primetime Emmy Award in 2010 and an NAACP Image Award in 2012, as well as two further Emmy nominations, one Golden Globe nomination, and three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations shared with the cast. Her other notable roles include Yasmin Husseini in Yasmin (2005), Pinky Bhamra in Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Asra Nomani in A Mighty Heart (2007).
Panjabi was born in London, to Govind and Padma Panjabi, both Sindhi Hindu immigrants from India. She graduated from Brunel University with a degree in management studies in 1996. She is also classically trained in ballet.
Panjabi has appeared in both 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 Gemmain 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 movie adaptation of A Mighty Heart, a book by Mariane Pearl, wife of the journalist Daniel Pearl, playing the role of former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani.
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.
In 2010, she played Saamiya Nasir in the British comedy The Infidel. On 28 May 2012, she was cast as Tanya Reed Smith, a pathologist, 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 will be joining series 3 of BBC Scotland crime drama series Shetland. In 2016, it was announced that she will star in ABC anthology drama series The Jury as the show's protagonist, Kim Dempsey.
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.
Panjabi was awarded Chopard Trophy in 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.
In 1998, Panjabi married tailor Rajesh Nihalani in an arranged marriage. She moved to New York from England when she was working on the show The Good Wife.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1995 | Bideshi | Joyoti | Short film |
1999 | East is East | Meenah Khan | |
2001 | Delilah | Adult Pim | Short film |
2002 | Black Nor White | Sangeeta | Short film |
2002 | Bend It Like Beckham | Pinky Bhamra | |
2002 | Arranged Marriage | Shashi | Short film |
2003 | Code 46 | Check In | |
2003 | Cross My Heart | Sumi | |
2004 | Yasmin | Yasmin | |
2005 | Chromophobia | Sarita | |
2005 | The Constant Gardener | Ghita Pearson | |
2006 | A Good Year | Gemma | |
2007 | Flying Lessons | Sharmila | Italian title: Lezioni di volo |
2007 | I Could Never Be Your Woman | Casting Girl | |
2007 | A Mighty Heart | Asra Nomani | |
2008 | Traitor | Chandra Dawkin | |
2008 | My World | Teacher | Short film |
2009 | Espion(s) | Anna | |
2009 | Be Good | Animal Adoption Officer | Short film |
2010 | The Infidel | Saamiya Nasir | |
2010 | The Happiness Salesman | Karen | Short film |
2013 | The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby | Unknown | Panjabi appears in sequels Him and Her |
2014 | I Origins | Priya Varma | |
2015 | San Andreas | Serena |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | Siren Spirits | Joyoti | Episode: "Bideshi" |
1995 | Under the Moon | Heena | TV movie |
1996 | The Thin Blue Line | Nazia Habib | Episode: "Alternative Culture" |
1997 | Dad | Unknown | Episode: "Dadmestic" |
2000 | Brand Spanking New Show | Various | 12 episodes |
2000 | In The Beginning | Basya | TV movie |
2001 | A Mind to Kill | Lamisa Khan | Episode: "Colour Blind" |
2001 | Murder in Mind | WPC Jill Evans | Episode: "Vigilante" |
2001 | The Bill | Shanaz Arad | 2 episodes |
2001 | Ivor the Invisible | Leila | Voice role |
2002 | Single Voices | Unknown | Episode: "Little Englander" |
2002 | The Secret | Nadia's PO | TV movie |
2002 | Holby City | Ali Safron | Episode: "From This Moment On" |
2002 | Tough Love | Chandra | TV movie |
2002 | My Family | Dental Assistant | Episode: "Of Mice and Ben" |
2002 | White Teeth | Alsana | 4 episodes |
2003 | This Little Life | Niala | TV movie |
2003 | Final Demand | Farida | TV movie |
2003 | The Canterbury Tales | Clare | Episode: "The Man of Law's Tale" |
2003-2004 | Grease Monkeys | Rita Dhillon | 20 episodes |
2004 | Sea of Souls | Megan Sharma | 6 episodes |
2004-2006 | Postman Pat | Meera Baines | 24 episodes, voice role |
2005 | A Very Social Secretary | Ashley | TV movie |
2006-2007 | Life on Mars | Maya Roy | 2 episodes |
2007 | Silent Witness | Amita Joshi | 2 episodes |
2007 | Love Triangle | Voice role | Short film |
2009 | Personal Affairs (aka P.A's) | Jane Lesser | 5 episodes |
2009-2015 | The Good Wife | Kalinda Sharma | Main role, 134 episodes |
2013-present | The Fall | Professor Reed Smith | 9 episodes |
2014 | The Widower | Simone Banerjee | 2 episodes |
2015 | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Lieutenant Singh | Episode: "The Funeral" |
2016 | Shetland | Asha Isran | 4 episodes |
2016 | The Jury | Kim Dempsey | Main role, upcoming series |