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Padma Lakshmi
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Padma Lakshmi

Padma Lakshmi at opening night of the Metropolitan Opera, 25 September 2006.
Birth name     Padma Parvati Lakshmi
Date of birth     September 1, 1970 (1970-09-01) (age 38)
Height     5' 9"
Hair color     Black
Eye color     Brown
Measurements     36C - 23 - 35
Weight     125 lbs

Padma Parvati Lakshmi, Lady Rushdie [1] (born September 1, 1970) is an Indian American cookbook author, actress, and former model who has described herself as the first well-known model from India.[2] She has been the host of the reality television program Top Chef since season two.
Contents

    * 1 Biography
          o 1.1 Early life
          o 1.2 Education
    * 2 Career
          o 2.1 Modelling
          o 2.2 Movies and television
    * 3 Awards
          o 3.1 Cookbooks
    * 4 Personal life
    * 5 Selected filmography
    * 6 Notes
    * 7 References
    * 8 External links

  Biography

  Early life

Padma was born in the state of Kerala, India, on September 1, 1970, though she grew up in Madras, Tamil Nadu. However, Padma spent most of her adolescent life in the United States.

Her parents' only child together, Lakshmi is the daughter of an executive with Pfizer and his first wife, Vijaya,[3] a nurse who presently specializes in suicide prevention.[2] Her parents separated when she was one and divorced a year later. Both parents later remarried; her mother's third and present husband is a plumber.[4]

When she was 14 years old, she was involved in a serious automobile accident, causing an injury of her right arm, which required surgery leaving a 7 inch scar,[2] between her elbow and shoulder. The accident happened on a Sunday afternoon on her way back with her parents from a Hindu temple in Malibu. She remembers a loud bang, looking out the windshield and realizing the family's red Mercury Sedan was airborne. Padma describes the event in the Vogue-April 2001 edition as "Flying in a car felt like an exhilarating hallucination, an unbelievable ride that oddly remains one of the most beautiful images in my memory." The car flew 40 feet down an embankment directly into a tree. The tree trunk fell directly on top of the car. She remained conscious, covered in glass, for the 40 minutes it took for the paramedics and firefighters to get through the traffic. They used the "jaws of life" to extract the family from the crumpled car. A helicopter landed in the middle of the highway to air lift her parents away while an ambulance carried Padma to the hospital. Fortunately, everyone survived. Her injuries included a fractured right hip and a shattered upper right arm which resulted in her famous 7-inch scar.

By a later marriage of her father's, Lakshmi has a half-brother and a half-sister, who was an actress and classical dancer but is now pursuing a career with children with special-needs.[4] As Lakshmi said in an interview published in The Guardian, "My father had quit his job as an executive at Pfizer to manage her career. That was kind of like rubbing salt in the wound. I didn't understand why he wanted that relationship with her, and not with me."[2]

  Education

Lakshmi is a 1992 graduate of Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, where she received a B.A. with honors in Theatre Arts.[5].

Lakshmi was brought up as a vegetarian[6] and has admitted that because of this, she sometimes becomes "squeamish" when sampling other cultural delicacies. [7]

  Career

  Modelling

Lakshmi's career began at age 20, when she was discovered by a modelling agent in Spain while sitting in a café.[2] As she has stated, "I was the first Indian model to have a career in Paris, Milan and New York. I'm the first one to admit that I was a novelty."[4] Despite Lakshmi's comment about her being a pioneer as a model of Indian descent, her career follows in the footsteps of Persis Khambatta, a former Miss India, who modelled for Revlon.

She has modelled for top designers such as Emanuel Ungaro, Ralph Lauren, and Alberta Ferretti and done ad campaigns for Roberto Cavalli and Versus.[8] She was a favorite model of the photographer Helmut Newton, whose photographs of her often highlighted the large scar on her right arm.

She has appeared on the magazine covers of Cosmopolitan - January 2002 [9], L'Officiel India - October 2004, [10],[11] – December 19, 2004, [12] - Spring 2005, [13] - October 2005, Newsweek - March 6, 2006[14], [15] Asian Woman– May/June 2006, [15] Avenue - July/August 2006, and [16] Industry - February/March 2007.

  Movies and television

Lakshmi had a comical supporting role as the lip synching disco singer Sylk in the 2001 American movie Glitter with Mariah Carey. She co-starred with Amitabh Bachchan and Jackie Shroff in the 2003 Hindi action box office failure[citation needed] Boom as Shiela Bardez, one of a trio of super models accused of stealing diamonds. Lakshmi was last seen on screen as Geeta with Aishwarya Rai and Dylan McDermott in Paul Mayeda Berges' 2005 film The Mistress of Spices. She will be starring[citation needed] in Oscar-nominated director Deepa Mehta's upcoming 2007 film, Kamagata Maru which was earlier titled Exclusion.

Padma Lakshmi made a 2002 guest appearance as alien princess Kaitaama in Precious Cargo, the 37th episode of the science fiction TV series Star Trek: Enterprise. She was also hostess of Domenica In, Italy's top-rated television show.[citation needed] She portrayed Sean Bean's nemesis in the 2004-2005 iTV TV series Sharpe's Challenge. In 2006 Lakshmi appeared in ABC's TV series The Ten Commandments with Dougray Scott, Naveen Andrews, and Omar Sharif. She took over as hostess of the popular TV cooking competition series Top Chef in 2006 during its second season and has continued in its third and fourth seasons.

  Awards

Lakshmi was named number 66 on AskMen.com's "The Top Most Desirable Women of 2008" list.

  Cookbooks

Her first cookbook Easy Exotic was awarded Best First Book at the 1999 World Cookbook Awards at Versailles. She was host of the Food Network series, Padma's Passport, which is part of the larger series Melting Pot, in 2001. She has also been a guest host on parts of the British culinary tourism show Planet Food, hosting the segments on India and Spain.[17] Her second cookbook Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet was released October 2, 2007[18].

  Personal life

On April 17, 2004, in New York City, Lakshmi married the novelist Salman Rushdie, to whom she was introduced at a party hosted by the journalist and editor Tina Brown[3]. On July 2, 2007 the couple filed for divorce, shortly after Rushdie was granted a knighthood.[19] She is the model for one of the central characters -- and love interests -- in Rushdie's novel, Fury (a novel dedicated to her as well).

When questioned about Rushdie's age (he is seven years younger than her father) and her long estrangement from her father (whom she has described as "the most sexy, manic, in-shape, lean, tall, handsome man I have ever met"), Lakshmi has said that there may be a correlation: "I think that we are attracted to what we feel we need."[20]

  Selected filmography
1994     Unzipped     Documentary (High Fashion)     Herself
1997     Linda e il brigadiere
 ep: "Il fratello di Linda"     TV Series (Italian, Comedy)     "Indian Lady"
1998     Il Figlio di Sandokan     TV Series (Italian, Drama)     N/A
1999     Caraibi     TV Series (Italian, Adventure)     Malinche
2000     Planet Food     Documentary (Cooking)     Host
2001     Glitter     Film (US, Drama)     Sylk
2001     Melting Pot: Padma's Passport     TV Series (US, Cooking)     Host
2002     Star Trek: Enterprise
 ep: Precious Cargo     TV Series (US, Sci-Fi)     Kaitaama
2003     Boom     Film (Indian, Drama)     Shiela Bardez
2005     The Mistress of Spices     Film (Indian, Drama)     Geeta
2006     The Ten Commandments     TV Series (US, Biblical)     Princess Bithia
2006     Sharpe
 ep: Sharpe's Challenge     TV Movie (Action/History/War)     Madhuvanthi
2006     Top Chef 2     TV Series (US, Reality/Cooking)     Host
2007     Top Chef 3     TV Series (US, Reality/Cooking)     Host
2008     Top Chef 4     TV Series (US, Reality/Cooking)     Host

  Notes

   1. ^ Padma Lakshmi
   2. ^ a b c d e Jess Cartner-Morley, "Beautiful and Damned", The Guardian, 8 April 2006[1]
   3. ^ a b Stephen Henderson, Vows: Padma Lakshmi and Salman Rushdie", The New York Times, 25 April 2004 WEDDINGS/CELEBRATIONS: VOWS; Padma Lakshmi and Salman Rushdie
   4. ^ a b c Padma Lakshmi — Evening Standard Magazine
   5. ^ Bravotv.com (2007)BIOS / Padma Lakshmi
   6. ^ Padma Lakshmi — Crossover Bride, L'Officel India
   7. ^ "Almost Flawless" by Padma Lakshmi. Vogue, April, 2001. http://www.lakshmifilms.com/padma_lakshmi_press2.htm
   8. ^ Padma Lakshmi Bio Bravotv.com
   9. ^ Padma Lakshmi — Mistress of Spice, Cosmopolitan
  10. ^ Padma Lakshmi — Crossover Bride, L'Officel India
  11. ^ Padma Lakshmi—What To Wear, You Magazine
  12. ^ Shoo
  13. ^ Padma Lakshmi—Stand Out in a Sea of Black, Harper's Bazaar
  14. ^ Padma Lakshmi—Newsweek Cover
  15. ^ a b Padma Lakshmi — Asian Woman
  16. ^ Padma Lakshmi — Industry Magazine
  17. ^ BBC - Food - TV and radio
  18. ^ Amazon.com Tangy Tart Hot and Sweet: A World of Recipes for Every Day (Hardcover)
  19. ^ E! News - Rushdie, Top Chef Wife Skewer Marriage
  20. ^ Padma Lakshmi — Evening Standard Magazine April 7, 2006

  References

    * Padma Lakshmi article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
    * Padma Lakshmi official website
    * Padma's Blog
    * Padma Lakshmi's Roots
    * Padma Lakshmi at the Internet Movie Database
    * Padma Lakshmi's MySpace
    * Top Chef Website
    * Padma Lakshmi on YouTube
    * Article about Padma Lakshmi in Tango Magazine website

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