Archie Panjabi
Archie Panjabi
Archana "Archie" Panjabi 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, Pinky Bhamra in Bend It Like Beckhamand Asra Nomani in A Mighty...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionTV Actress
Date of Birth31 May 1972
dream baby class
Since I was a baby my goal was to be on TV because film was just impossible - you never got any Asian women in Western cinema. I grew up wanting to be in 'East-Enders' because film wasn't even a dream. The community were very much like, 'How can you want to act? It's such a low-class profession.
dialect-coach voice mysterious
I had a dialect coach to get an American accent, and then another dialect coach to come off it a bit. There is something deep and mysterious in the voice when it isn't too high-pitched American.
school thinking america
I remember sitting in school and thinking, 'I don't know why I'm here, because I know I'm going to act and I know I'm going to America.'
ambition parent supportive
Luckily my parents were not against my ambition, they've always been very supportive. But they were adamant that I went to university first.
new-york believe home
Coming to New York is like a big hug, everyone is so welcoming. There's something about here, everyone makes you feel so at home. I miss my family of course, but I don't miss London that much. I was worried, but I feel really at home. Everyone says that who comes here from London, but I didn't believe them.
mother father agents
When I was younger I was fat. I was never conscious of it and was content with who I was because I was so loved. My mother never told me to lose weight and my father doted on me, but my agent told me. I tried, but I loved Indian food too much.
mother teacher father
My mother wanted to be a teacher when she was young, and my father didn't approve of it, so she fought very hard to become one. And she did it. So when I said I wanted to become an actress, my mother was very supportive. She always said to me, 'There's no such thing as 'can't.
dog children married
I am still married, yes - no children. I have Benzo, though; he's my dog, a Lhasa apso.
brother boys blue
I went out for a film where they wanted seven brothers and one sister, so I was there for half a day while they were waiting for 'Archie' to read for a boy I've had drivers come to pick me up in England looking for a blond, blue-eyed Scottish boy.
ethnicity world sometimes
Sometimes my ethnicity is relevant, other times not. I definitely get the best of both worlds.
wife good-wife unpredictable
The predictable thing about 'The Good Wife' is how unpredictable 'The Good Wife' is.
people asking way
You have this impression from England that New Yorkers can be quite aggressive, but certainly the people that I've bumped into and the friends I've made here don't seem that way. Just walking down the street and asking for directions, people seem to be very helpful and happy to help.
wife one-day gut-instinct
And I'd love to direct. One day. I'm learning a lot on the set of The Good Wife.
new-york short-life grateful
As soon as I moved to New York, I experienced Hurricane Irene and then Hurricane Sandy hit me in quite a big way. I had 12 days without any electricity or any water. The thing that I realized the most from it was that we've become so dependent on technology. There's so much accessibility to information that suddenly when everything is cut off, you're completely lost, and you start asking deeper and more profound questions - how short life is, and how grateful we should be for things.