Indira Varma Biography

Indira Anne Varma (born 27 September 1973) is a British actress. Her film debut and first major role was in Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. She has gone on to appear in the television series The Canterbury Tales, Rome, Luther, Human Target, and Game of Thrones (as Ellaria Sand). In September 2016, she began starring in the ITV/Netflix series Paranoid, as DS Nina Suresh.

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 US 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, season 6 and season 7.

She lent her voice to the Circle mage Vivienne, in the 2014 role-playing video game Dragon Age: Inquisition.

In 2016, she played the lead role of DC Nina Suresh in the eight-episode British television drama Paranoid, which is currently streaming worldwide on Netflix.

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 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 Nol 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 and her husband, fellow actor Colin Tierney, live with their daughter Evelyn in Hornsey, North London.

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 Balraj
2006	Basic Instinct 2	Denise Glass
2007	Sex and Death 101	Devon Sever	Uncredited
2013	Mindscape	Judith Morrow
2014	Exodus: Gods and Kings	High Priestess
2016	Una	Sonia

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Crucial Tales	Manreet	Episode: "Phoenix"
1999	Psychos	Dr. Martine Nichol	Miniseries; 6 episodes
2000	Other People's Children	Amy	Unknown episodes
2000-2001	Attachments	Sasha	4 episodes
2001	In a Land of Plenty	Sonali Ganatra	4 episodes
2001	'	Diane Crossman	TV film
2002-2010	Arena	Various characters	2 episodes
2003	Rockface	Alison	Episode: "2.5"
2003	'	Meena	Episode: "The Sea Captain's Tale"
2003	Reversals	Kathy Irwin	TV film
2004	Donovan	Cara Mathis	Unknown episodes
2005	'	Judith Carroon	TV film
2005	Love Soup	Suzanne Daley	Episode: "They Do Not Move"
2005	A Waste of Shame	Lucie, the Dark Lady	TV film
2005	Broken News	Melanie Bellamy	6 episodes
2005	Little Britain	Various characters	3 episodes
2005-2007	Rome	Niobe of the Voreni	15 episodes
2006	'	Melissa Booth	Episode: "In the Blink of an Eye"
2006	Torchwood	Suzie Costello	2 episodes
2006	3 lbs	Dr. Adrianne Holland	6 episodes
2007	The 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 film
2009	Moses Jones	Dolly	3 episodes
2010	Hustle	D.C.I. Lucy Britford	2 episodes
2010	Luther	Zoe Luther	7 episodes
2010-2011	Human Target	Ilsa Pucci	13 episodes
2012	Silk	George Duggan	6 episodes
2012	Hunted	Natalie Thorpe	5 episodes
2012	World Without End	Mattie Wise	2 episodes
2013	What Remains	Elaine Markham	4 episodes
2014-2017	Game of Thrones	Ellaria Sand	13 episodes Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2016	New Blood	Lisa Douglas	2 episodes
2016	Paranoid	Nina Suresh	8 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	Dragon Age: Inquisition	Vivienne
2017	Mass Effect: Andromeda	Moshea Sjefa, Sloane Kelly