Padma Lakshmi, September 2007Padma
Parvati Lakshmi, Lady Rushdie (born September 1, 1970 in
Chennai, India)[4] is an Indian-American cookbook author,
actress, and model who has described herself as the first
well-known model from India.[1] She has been the host of the
reality television program Top Chef since season two and is an
ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women.[2]
Contents [hide]
1 Biography
2 Marriage
3 Career
3.1 Modeling
3.2 Movies and television
3.3 Cookbooks
4 Selected filmography
5 Notes
6 References
[edit] Biography
She was born into a Tamil Brahmin family in 1970 and raised in
Madras, India[3] and the United States.[1] Her first name means
"lotus" in Sanskrit, as well as "pearl" or "jewel." Parvati is a
consort of Shiva. Lakshmi is the name of the Hindu goddess of
wealth. In traditional Iyer style, she does not appear to have a
surname.
Her parents' only child, Lakshmi is the daughter of an executive
with Pfizer and his first wife, Vijaya,[4] a nurse who presently
specializes in suicide prevention.[1] Her parents separated when
she was one and divorced a year later. Both parents later
remarried; her mother's third and present husband is a
plumber.[5] She reportedly had no further contact with her
father until 1998.
When she was 14 years old, she was involved in a serious
automobile accident, causing an injury of her right arm, which
required surgery leaving a 7 inch scar,[1] between her elbow and
shoulder.
By a later marriage of her father's, Lakshmi has a half-brother
and a half-sister, who was an actress and classical dancer but
is now pursuing a career with special-needs children.[6] As
Lakshmi said in an interview published in The Guardian, "My
father had quit his job as an executive at Pfizer to manage her
career. That was kind of like rubbing salt in the wound. I
didn't understand why he wanted that relationship with her, and
not with me."[1]
Reportedly, she spent part of her childhood attending elementary
school in Chennai, India. Lakshmi is a 1992 graduate of Clark
University in Worcester, Massachusetts, where she received a
B.A. with honors in Theater Arts.[5].
Lakshmi was brought up as a vegetarian[6] and has admitted that
because of this, she sometimes becomes "squeamish" when sampling
other cultural delicacies. [7]
[edit] Marriage
On April 17, 2004, in New York City, Lakshmi married the
novelist Salman Rushdie, to whom she was introduced at a party
hosted by the journalist and editor Tina Brown[8]. By him, she
has two stepsons, Zafar and Milan. On July 2, 2007 the couple
filed for divorce, shortly after Rushdie was granted a
knighthood.[9]
When questioned about Rushdie's age (he is seven years younger
than her father) and her long estrangement from her father (whom
she has described as "the most sexy, manic, in-shape, lean,
tall, handsome man I have ever met"),[7] Lakshmi has said that
there may be a correlation: “I think that we are attracted to
what we feel we need."[8]
[edit] Career
[edit] Modeling
Lakshmi's career began at age 20, when she was discovered by a
modeling agent in Spain while sitting in a café.[1] As she has
stated, “I was the first Indian model to have a career in Paris,
Milan and New York. I’m the first one to admit that I was a
novelty.”[9] Despite Lakshmi's comment about her being a pioneer
as a model of Indian descent, her career follows in the
footsteps of Persis Khambatta, a former Miss India, who modeled
for Revlon and had a featured role in the 1979 film Star Trek:
The Motion Picture.
She has modeled for top designers such as Emanuel Ungaro, Ralph
Lauren, and Alberta Ferretti and done ad campaigns for Roberto
Cavalli and Versus.[10] She was a favorite model of the
photographer Helmut Newton, whose photographs of her often
highlighted the large scar on her right arm.
She has appeared on the magazine covers of Cosmopolitan -
January 2002 [10], Vogue - May 2004[11], L'Officiel India -
October 2004, You – December 19, 2004, Shoo - Spring 2005,
Harper's Bazaar - October 2005, Newsweek - March 6, 2006[12],
Asian Woman – May/June 2006, Avenue - July/August 2006, and
Industry - February/March 2007.
[edit] Movies and television
Guest star Padma Lakshmi plays an alien princess in Star Trek:
Enterprise episode 37, Precious Cargo.Lakshmi had a comical
supporting role as the lipsynching disco singer Sylk in the 2001
American movie Glitter with Mariah Carey. She co-starred with
Amitabh Bachchan and Jackie Shroff in the 2003 Hindi action box
office failure Boom as Shiela Bardez, one of a trio of
supermodels accused of stealing diamonds. Lakshmi was last seen
on screen as Geeta with Aishwarya Rai and Dylan McDermott in
Paul Mayeda Berges' 2005 film The Mistress of Spices. Padma will
be starring in Oscar-nominated director Deepa Mehta's (Water)
upcoming 2007 film, Kamagata Maru which was earlier titled
Exclusion.
Padma Lakshmi made a 2002 guest appearance as alien princess
Kaitaama in Precious Cargo, the 37th episode of the popular
science fiction TV series Star Trek: Enterprise. She was also
hostess of Domenica In, Italy's top-rated television show.[11]
She portrayed Sean Bean's nemesis in the 2004 -2005 iTV TV
series Sharpe's Challenge. In 2006 Lakshmi appeared in ABC's TV
series The Ten Commandments with Dougray Scott, Naveen Andrews,
and Omar Sharif. Padma took over as hostess of the popular TV
cooking competition series Top Chef in 2006 during its second
season and continues in 2007 in its third season.
[edit] Cookbooks
Her first cookbook Easy Exotic was awarded Best First Book at
the 1999 World Cookbook Awards at Versailles. She was host of
the Food Network series, Padma's Passport, which is part of the
larger series Melting Pot. She has also been a guest host on
parts of the British culinary tourism show Planet Food, hosting
the segments on India and Spain.[12] Her second cookbook Tangy,
Tart, Hot and Sweet was released October 2, 2007[13].
[edit] Selected filmography
Year Title Genre Role
1994 Unzipped Documentary (High Fashion) Herself
1997 Linda e il brigadiere
ep: "Il fratello di Linda" TV Series (Italian, Comedy) "Indian
Lady"
1998 Il Figlio di Sandokan TV Series (Italian, Drama) N/A
1999 Caraibi TV Series (Italian, Adventure) Malinche
2000 Planet Food Documentary (Cooking) Host
2001 Glitter Film (US, Drama) Sylk
2001 Melting Pot: Padma's Passport TV Series (US, Cooking) Host
2002 Star Trek: Enterprise
ep: Precious Cargo TV Series (US, Sci-Fi) Kaitaama
2003 Boom Film (Indian, Drama) Shiela Bardez
2005 The Mistress of Spices Film (Indian, Drama) Geeta
2006 The Ten Commandments TV Series (US, Biblical) Princess
Bithia
2006 Sharpe
ep: Sharpe's Challenge TV Movie (Action/History/War) Madhuvanthi
2006 Top Chef 2 TV Series (US, Reality/Cooking) Host
2007 Top Chef 3 TV Series (US, Reality/Cooking) Host
