Tina Desai

Tina Desai
Desai at the Mumbai Promotion of Table No.21 in 2012
Born
Tina Desai

(1987-02-24) February 24, 1987 (age 37)[1]
Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Occupations
  • Actress
  • model
Years active2011–present

Tina Desai is an Indian actress and model who works in both Indian and international projects. She debuted with the 2011 thriller Yeh Faasley, before making her foreign debut in 2012 in the comedy-drama The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.[2][3] She is also known for her main role in the Netflix series Sense8.

Early life

Desai was born in Bangalore to a Gujarati father and a Telugu mother. She is a graduate in Business Management with a specialization in finance from the NIM[where?].[2] She is fluent in six languages—Gujarati, Telugu, Kannada, English, Hindi and Punjabi.

Career

Desai began her career as a model and went on to feature in over 150 commercials and print campaigns. She participated in the reality show contest Get Gorgeous through which she was offered a contract with Elite Model India Management.

She made her acting debut in 2011 in Yeh Faasley, and shortly after, made her Hollywood debut in the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.[4]

She posed for the 2012 Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar[5] and starred in the Bollywood action thriller film Table No. 21 opposite Rajeev Khandelwal. She appeared in the romantic song "Yeh Kahan Mil Gaye Hum" with singer KK.

In 2015, Desai booked two high-profile English language projects, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,[citation needed] a sequel to the 2012 hit[6] and the Netflix drama Sense8 by The Wachowskis and J. Michael Straczynski in which she plays Kala Dandekar.

In 2016, she voiced the character of Ashima in the Thomas & Friends film The Great Race, and 2 years later in 2018, Desai voiced Ashima in some of the episodes of seasons 22, 23 & 24 of Thomas and Friends. In April 2018, Tina played the role of Jenny in a short film titled 'Good luck' for Hotstar, directed by Sujoy Ghosh.

In 2021, Desai starred in the Amazon Prime web series Mumbai Diaries 26/11. Directed by Nikkhil Advani and produced by Emmay Entertainment, it also stars Mohit Raina and Konkona Sen Sharma.[7] Desai then appeared in crime thriller film Bob Biswas[citation needed] directed by Diya Annapurna Ghosh and produced by Red Chillies Entertainment.

Filmography

Film

Year Film Role Language Notes
2011 Yeh Faasley Arunima D. Dua Hindi
2011 Sahi Dhandhe Galat Bande Neha Sharma Hindi
2012 Cocktail Waitress Hindi Cameo
2012 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Sunaina English
2013 Table No.21 Siya Agasthi Hindi
2015 The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Sunaina English
2015 Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene Megha Hindi
2016 Thomas & Friends: The Great Race Ashima English Voice
2018 Dassehra Aditi Singh Hindi
2018 Good luck Jenny Saxena Hindi Short film
2021 Bob Biswas Indira Verma Hindi

Television

Year Film Role Language Notes
2015–2018 Sense8 Kala Dandekar English Original Web Series
2018-2020 Thomas and Friends Ashima (voice) English 6 episodes
2021 Mumbai diaries - 26/11 Ananya Ghosh Hindi Original Web Series
2022 Bloody Brothers Sophie Hindi

References

  1. ^ "IMDb". IMDb.
  2. ^ a b "Tena Desae". The Times of India. 18 November 2011. Archived from the original on 8 July 2012.
  3. ^ Pereira, Priyanka (4 March 2012). "Tena Desae is no Freida Pinto". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  4. ^ Walker, Tim (9 February 2012). "Tena Desae, the star of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, looks for love in London". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  5. ^ Jakhar, Deepti (10 January 2012). "Sizzling Beauties of Kingfisher Calendar 2012". India Today. Mail Today. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  6. ^ Charles Gant (6 March 2012). "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel brings sunshine back to the UK box office". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  7. ^ "Mumbai Diaries 26/11 teaser: The story of first responders". The Indian Express. 26 November 2020. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
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