Sarita Choudhury

After her debut film _Mississippi Masala (1991)_ (qv) became an art house hit, 'Sarita Choudhury' (qv) was determined not to "go Hollywood," focusing her acting energies on independent film instead.Raised in Jamaica, Mexico, and Italy, the half-Indian, half-English Choudhury studied economics at Queens University in Ontario before switching to acting. She casually auditioned for _Mississippi Masala (1991)_ (qv) and wound up cast as the lead opposite 'Denzel Washington' (qv) in the singular interracial romance between a Southern African American man and a transplanted Indian woman. Despite the film's surprise success, Choudhury stuck to her non-Hollywood roots, putting her exotic looks and talent to versatile use as a Pakistani country-western singer in _Wild West (1992)_ (qv), a Chilean maid who is raped in 'Bille August' (qv)'s adaptation of _The House of the Spirits (1993)_ (qv), and a lesbian mother in _Fresh Kill (1994)_ (qv).Choudhury worked with _Mississippi Masala (1991)_ (qv) director 'Mira Nair' (qv) again in _The Perez Family (1995)_ (qv) and played the cuckolded queen Tara in Nair's frankly-sensual feminist parable _Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996)_ (qv).By the late 1990s, Choudhury added a touch of Hollywood to her repertoire with supporting roles in the glossy 'Alfred Hitchcock' (qv) remake, _A Perfect Murder (1998)_ (qv) and the 'John Cassavetes' (qv) retread _Gloria (1999)_ (qv).::Lucia Bozzola