Archie Panjabi

30 Nov, 1971 | Edgware, Middlesex, England

Actress

Biography

Archie Panjabi (Punjabi: ਅਰਚਨਾ ਕੌਰ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ, Arcanā Kaur Pañjābī) is a British actress. Personal life Panjabi was born Archana Kaur Punjabi in West London. She is a Sikh of Punjabi descent. She graduated from Brunel University in West London, with a degree in Management Studies in 1996. She is married to Raj Nihlipandi. Career Panjabi has taken acting roles in both film and television, from early appearances in the 1999 comedy film East is East to the recent BBC television series Life on Mars. Her first Hollywood role was as a British diplomat in the Oscar-winning The Constant Gardener in 2005, although one of her most high-profile roles was in the 2002 comedy release Bend It Like Beckham. In 2005 she won the Shooting Star Award for her role in Yasmin at the Berlin Film Festival, and the Best Actress award in the same year at the Reims Film Festival. In 2007, Panjabi appeared 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. Her performance earned her The Chopard Trophy for a Breakout Performance at the Cannes Film Festival. Panjabi has also provided the voices for several of the characters in the British children\'s television animation Postman Pat. 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 had an important role as a MI5 agent in the acclaimed French movie Espion(s), supporting Guillaume Canet.