Indira Varma is a British actress born on September 27, 1973, in Bath, Somerset. Her parents, of Indian and Swiss descent, were relatively elderly and often mistaken for her grandparents. Varma was a member of the Musical Youth Theatre Company and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1995.
She made her film debut in Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love and has since appeared in numerous television series, including The Canterbury Tales, Rome, Luther, Human Target, and Game of Thrones. Varma played the lead role of DS Nina Suresh in the ITV/Netflix series Paranoid, which premiered in September 2016.
In addition to her television work, Varma has had a number of film roles, including Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, Bride and Prejudice, and the historical drama series Rome. She played the role of Niobe, the young Roman wife, during the first season of Rome and appeared briefly in the second season.
Varma has also had a number of stage roles, including Bianca in Shakespeare's Othello at the National Theatre, London, and Gila in One for the Road at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. She has appeared in numerous other stage productions, including Ivanov, The Vortex, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Vertical Hour, Twelfth Night, Hysteria, The Hothouse, Titus Andronicus, and Man and Superman.
In 2014, Varma lent her voice to the role of Vivienne, a Circle mage, in the role-playing video game Dragon Age: Inquisition.