Early life

Varma was born in Bath, Somerset, UK, the only child of an Indian father and a Swiss mother who was of part Genoese Italian descent. She was a member of Musical Youth Theatre Company and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, in 1995.

Career

Varma has had a number of television and film roles, including Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love in 1997 and Bride and Prejudice in 2004, and the young Roman wife Niobe during the first season of BBC/HBO's historical drama series Rome. Her character appeared briefly in the second season of the award-winning series when it aired on Sunday, 14 January 2007.

In 2006, she played Suzie Costello in the first and eighth episodes, "Everything Changes" and "They Keep Killing Suzie", of BBC Three's science-fiction drama series Torchwood. She appeared as Dr. Adrienne Holland in the CBS medical drama 3 lbs which premiered on 14 November 2006 and was cancelled on 30 November 2006 due to poor ratings. Varma guest starred in the fourth season premiere of hit U.S. detective drama Bones as Scotland Yard Inspector Cate Pritchard. She also played the role of Zoe Luther in the first series of the BBC drama Luther.

Varma played the role of Ilsa Pucci in the second season of the Fox television series Human Target until the show was cancelled on 10 May 2011.

Varma played the role of Ellaria Sand, the paramour of Oberyn Martell in season 4 of the HBO show Game of Thrones, and reprised the role in season 5 and season 6.

She lent her voice to the Circle mage, Vivienne, in the critically acclaimed 2014 RPG, Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Theatre

In 1997, Varma played Bianca in Shakespeare's Othello at the National Theatre (NT), London. In 2000 to 2001, she appeared in Harold Pinter and Di Trevis's NT stage adaptation of Pinter's The Proust Screenplay, Remembrance of Things Past, based on À la recherche du temps perdu, by Marcel Proust. In the summer of 2001, she played Gila in One for the Road, by Harold Pinter, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.

In 2002, she played Sasha Lebedieff in Ivanov by Anton Chekhov at the National Theatre, London and Bunty Mainwaring in The Vortex by Noël Coward at the Donmar Theatre, London. In 2004, she played Sabina in The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder at the Young Vic Theatre Theatre, London. In 2008, she played Nadia Baliye in The Vertical Hour by David Hare at the Royal Court Theatre London. In 2009, she played Olivia in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night with Donmar West End at Wyndham's Theatre, London. In 2012, she played Jessica in Terry Johnson's Hysteria at the Theatre Royal, Bath. In 2013 she played Miss Cutts in The Hothouse by Harold Pinter in the Trafalgar Transformed season at Trafalgar Studios.

In 2014, Varma played Tamora, Queen of the Goths, in Lucy Bailey's "gore-fest" production of Titus Andronicus at Shakespeare's Globe. In 2015, she appeared alongside Ralph Fiennes in Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman at the National Theatre.

Personal life

Varma lives in Hornsey, London with her husband, Colin Tierney, and their daughter Evelyn.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love	Maya
1997	Clancy's Kitchen	Kitty
1997	Sixth Happiness	Amy
1998	Jinnah	Ruttie Jinnah
2002	Mad Dogs	Narendra
2004	Rover's Return	Zeta	Short film
2004	Bride and Prejudice	Kiran
2006	Basic Instinct 2	Denise Glass
2007	Sex and Death 101	Devon Sever	Uncredited
2013	Mindscape	Judith
2014	Exodus: Gods and Kings	High Priestess

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Crucial Tales	Manreet	Episode: "Phoenix"
1999	Psychos	Dr. Martine Nichol	TV miniseries
2000	Zehn wahnsinnige Tage	Ra	TV movie
2000	Other People's Children	Amy	TV series
2000	Sci-Fright	Host - Nina	TV series
2000-2001	Attachments	Sasha	4 episodes
2001	In a Land of Plenty	Sonali Ganatra	4 episodes
2001	Whistle-Blower, TheThe Whistle-Blower	Diane Crossman	TV movie
2002	Arena	Gila	Episode: "One for the Road"
2003	Rockface	Alison	Episode: "2.5"
2003	Canterbury Tales, TheThe Canterbury Tales	Meena	Episode: "The Sea Captain's Tale"
2003	Reversals	Kathy Irwin	TV movie
2004	Donovan	Cara Mathis	TV series
2005	Quatermass Experiment, TheThe Quatermass Experiment	Judith Carroon	TV movie
2005	Love Soup	Suzanne Daley	Episode: "They Do Not Move"
2005	Waste of Shame: The Mystery of Shakespeare and His Sonnets, AA Waste of Shame: The Mystery of Shakespeare and His Sonnets	Lucie	TV movie
2005	Broken News	Melanie Bellamy	6 episodes
2005	Little Britain	Babysitting Mother Health Spa Receptionist	3 episodes
2005-2007	Rome	Niobe of the Voreni	15 episodes
2006	Inspector Lynley Mysteries, TheThe Inspector Lynley Mysteries	Melissa Booth	Episode: "In the Blink of an Eye"
2006	Torchwood	Suzie Costello	Episode: "Everything Changes" Episode: "They Keep Killing Suzie"
2006	3 lbs	Dr. Adrianne Holland	6 episodes
2007	Whistleblowers, TheThe Whistleblowers	Alisha Cole	6 episodes
2008	Comanche Moon	Therese Wanz	Episode: "1.2"
2008	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Bela Khan	Episode: "Assassin"
2008	Bones	Inspector Cate Pritchard	Episode: "The Yanks in the U.K.: Parts 1 & 2"
2009	Inside the Box	Catherine Powell	TV movie
2009	Moses Jones	Dolly	3 episodes
2010	Arena	Various	Episode: "Harold Pinter: A Celebration"
2010	Hustle	D.C.I. Lucy Britford	Episode: "And This Little Piggy Had Money" Episode: "The Hush Heist"
2010	Luther	Zoe Luther	6 episodes
2010-2011	Human Target	Ilsa Pucci	13 episodes
2012	Silk	George Duggan	6 episodes
2012	Hunted	Natalie Thorpe	Episode: "1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4"
2012	World Without End	Mattie Wise	Episode: "Knight" Episode: "King"
2013	What Remains	Elaine Markham	TV series
2014-present	Game of Thrones	Ellaria Sand	10 episodes (main cast Season 5-, recurring Season 4) Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	Dragon Age: Inquisition	Vivienne

[ Source: Wikipedia ]