Sarita Catherine Louise Choudhury (born 18 August 1966) is an English actress. Born in Blackheath, an affluent neighborhood in London, to an English mother and a Bengali father, Choudhury was raised in Jamaica, Mexico, Italy and England due to her father's work. She landed her breakout role starring opposite Denzel Washington in Mira Nair's romantic drama film Mississippi Masala (1991) despite never formally studying acting. Since then, she has appeared in numerous American and international film productions, including A Perfect Murder (1998), Spike Lee's She Hate Me (2004), Lady in the Water (2006), Midnight's Children (2012), and The Green Knight (2021).
Some people’s first introduction to Mira Nair might be as New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s mom. But with her insightful direction of 1991’s Mississippi Masala, Nair shows how much she deserves to be known as an artist. Delivering a nuanced portrait of a romance between a Black man and an Indian woman living in the South, Nair explores the complications each character faces, giving both equal weight.
Why is 'The Green Knight' so white? People of color are so removed from the origins of 13th century art. We’re looking toward the future, and part of that should be updating aspects of our stories to mirror those evolutions.
