Anita Majumdar

Personal life

The daughter of Bengali immigrants from India, Majumdar grew up in Port Moody, Canada. She did not speak English until the age of six. She is trained in several forms of classical dance, including Bharata Natyam, Kathak and Odissi. Majumdar graduated from the University of British Columbia where she earned degrees in English, Theatre and South Asian Languages. In 2004, she graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada.

Career

She first came to attention with her one-woman play Fish Eyes in which she played three different parts. She was cast as Davinder Samra in the CBC television film Murder Unveiled. In the film she plays a fictionalised version of Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, a Canadian Sikh beautician who was murdered by her family after she secretly married a poor Indian rickshaw driver. She won the Best Actress Award at the 2005 Asian Festival of First Films for her performance in the film. She then wrote a one-woman play based on the film called The Misfit. Majumdar was cast in Diverted as Alia, a passenger whose plane is diverted as a result of the September 11 attacks and falls in love with Shawn Ashmore. She also plays the character of Emerald in Deepa Mehta's adaptation of Midnight's Children.

Film and television

Stage