Lolita Chakrabarti

Lolita Chakrabarti (born 1 June 1969 in Kingston upon Hull[1][2]) is an English actress and writer.

Career

Acting

Chakrabarti graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1990.[3]

Her screen credits include Criminal Netflix, Riviera Season 2 , Delicious, Defending the Guilty, All Is True, Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands, The Casual Vacancy, Jekyll and Hyde, Intruders (2011), Bodies, Vera, Outnumbered, Hustle, Born to Kill, Extras Christmas Special, William and Mary, Fortysomething, Holby City, Silent Witness, and as WPC Jamila Blake in the long running ITV drama The Bill.[4]

Her theatre credits include Fanny and Alexander for the Old Vic (2018) Gertrude in Hamlet starring Tom Hiddleston, directed by Kenneth Branagh for RADA (2017), The Great Game: Afghanistan for the Tricycle Theatre (2009), Last Seen for the Almeida (2009) (which she co-wrote), Free Outgoing for the Royal Court (2008) and John Gabriel Borkman for the Donmar Warehouse (2007).

Writing

Chakrabarti's writing credits include an adaptation of Booker Prize winning novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel for Sheffield Crucible Theatre. Winner of a WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Play in 2020 and four UK Theatre Awards in 2019 for Best Play, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Design, the show will transfer to Wyndhams Theatre in London's West End in June 2020.

An adaptation of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities in collaboration with 59Productions, Rambert Dance and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui at Manchester International Festival and Brisbane Festival.

Red Velvet, a play about Ira Aldridge, an African-American actor at the centre of controversy in 1833 when he takes over from Edmund Kean in Othello at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden. Premiered in 2012 at the Tricycle Theatre, London,[5][6] it returned to a sold out run at The Tricycle in 2014 before transferring to St Ann's Warehouse in New York. It returned again to the Garrick Theatre in London's West End as part of Kenneth Branagh's season in 2016. Chicago Shakespeare Theater and San Diego's Old Globe Theatre presented Red Velvet in 2017-18. Red Velvet has had over twenty five productions in the United States.

The play won Chakrabarti the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright at the 2012 Evening Standard Awards. That same year she was nominated for Best New Play and London Newcomer of the Year at the Whatsonstage Awards. She won the award for Most Promising Playwright at the Critics Circle Awards in January 2013 and was awarded the AWA Award for Arts and Culture that same year. Red Velvet was also nominated for an Olivier Award in 2013 and Adrian Lester was nominated for an Olivier in 2016 for his portrayal of Ira Aldridge in Red Velvet.[7]

Chakrabarti also wrote The Goddess for Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4, Faith, Hope and Blue Charity, on BBC Radio 4, and (with Simon Burt and Matthew David Scott) Last Seen for Slung Low and the Almeida.[8][9]

In 2018 Chakrabarti curated The Greatest Wealth for The Old Vic Theatre, London. She commissioned eight monologues of which she also wrote one in recognition of the 70th birthday of the NHS.

Presenting

From 1993 to 1996, Chakrabarti presented the BBC children's educational programme Numbertime.

Producing

Chakrabarti ran Lesata Productions with Rosa Maggiora. In 2011, they produced Of Mary, a short film that won the Best Short Film Award at PAFF, Los Angeles 2012. Chakrabarti and Maggiora were nominated for the Best Producer Award at the Underwire Film Festival, London 2011.[10]

Personal life

Chakrabarti was born in Kingston upon Hull to Bengali Hindu parents from India on 1 July 1969, later growing up in Birmingham where her father worked as an orthopaedic surgeon at Selly Oak Hospital.[2] She met her husband, actor Adrian Lester, while they were both students at RADA.[11] The couple has two daughters, Lila and Jasmine, both born in Southwark, London.

References
  1. "findmypast.co.uk". search.findmypast.co.uk.
  2. Roy, Amit (2 December 2012). "Play it again, Lolita". The Telegraph (India). Kolcata. Archived from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  3. "RADA: The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art - Student". www.rada.ac.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  4. Lolita Chakrabarti on IMDb
  5. Billington, Michael (17 October 2012). "Red Velvet – Review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  6. Chakrabarti, Lolita (28 January 2014). "Lolita Chakrabarti, 'Red Velvet', and what's wrong with theatre today". The Independent. Archived from the original on 29 January 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  7. Brantley, Ben (1 April 2014). "Grandeur Under Siege: 'Red Velvet' Recalls One Shocked London Audience". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 April 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  8. "Last Seen". Slung Low. Archived from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  9. Gardner, Lyn (14 July 2009). "Last Seen". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  10. Of Mary (2011), "Full cast and crew" at imdb.com; retrieved 17 November 2012.
  11. Patterson, Christina (6 January 2009). "Adrian Lester: Back on the Hustle". The Independent. Archived from the original on 19 January 2009. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
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