Date of Birth:
26 February 1976
Height:
5′ 6" (1.68 m)
Mini Biography:
Namrata Singh Gujral is a Sikh Indian-American actress/producer, who is also a breast cancer survivor and cancer advocate.
A 1998 graduate from the University of West Florida, Namrata was born in India, but left at an early age. She moved to Hollywood in 2001 from Pensacola, Florida and was "taft-hartleyed" into the Screen Actors Guild after booking the recurring role of "Fari Bin Ghori" on CBS's "The Agency", produced by Wolfgang Peterson ("The Perfect Storm"). This was followed rapidly by castings as "Nurse Kathy", a five year stint, on NBC's "Passions" (2001-2005). From the role of Pakistani-American "Saira Ahmed" in CBS's "Family Law" (for which Namrata, along with co-stars Tony Danza and Kathleen Quinlan, were Columbia Tristar's official nomination for EMMY Awards 2002) to playing the lead role of German-Samoan beauty, Anna Kraus in "The Shark Hunter", where she co-starred with Yancy Arias (King Pins; Miss Saigon), Namrata has portrayed a variety of ethnicities in film, television and theater. Namrata's other credits include ABC's "Dragnet", "General Hospital" and cameos in Dreamwork's "House of Sand and Fog" and Denzel Washington starrer "Training Day". Namrata has also lent her voice to the role of "Jaya Kushala", a principal character in Microsoft's X-BOX game "Quantum Redshift" and starred in commercials for Toyota, Cox and more.
Lifetime TV honored Namrata as one of their "Remarkable Women" in October 2010 making her the first Indian-American to join the ranks of other esteemed notables such as Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Namrata was profiled as "Actress-Of-The Week" for the "Celebrity Profile" section of Aasken.com and titled as one of the "Girls of FHM". She has been cover girl/featured in other high profile international media like CNN, ABC, NBC, People Magazine, E!, Washington Times, Washington Post, New York Times, LA Times, Variety, Nashville Scene and many more.
Although Namrata's upcoming projects include "5 Weddings", "Himalayan Rhapsody" and "Tie That Binds", the role she garnered rave reviews for, is her portrayal of "Shelley" in the Warner Bros release "Americanizing Shelley", with Beau Bridges and Wil Wheaton. She also played "Renu Mathur" in Bollywood blockbuster "Kaante" (replacing Shilpa Shetty), with stalwarts Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt.
Namrata also made her singing debut in 2008 with "Dancin' In The Clouds", a "Country Rock" meets "Bollywood" style duet, which is being included in the Guinness Book of Records. She cut the single with country star Steve Azar ("Waitin' on Joe" w/ Morgan Freeman).
With the single, currently on VH1, CMT and MTV, Namrata became the first Eastern artist to get a page on CMT and for placing an Eastern language (Hindi) in Country Music for the first time in history!
Namrata also serves as President of UniGlobe Entertainment, making her the first among her generation of South Asian-Americans in Hollywood, to successfully affiliate her company with a major Hollywood Studio (Warner Bros). She has stated in interviews that she hopes to use her production company's platform to harness the entertainment industry in the fight against cancer in general and breast cancer in particular.
Namrata was diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age in 2008. With her directorial debut and the ongoing global campaign of 1 A Minute, she hopes to shed light on the urgency of finding a cure for cancer. 1 a Minute (the film) is out by Warner Bros.
Trivia:
Started modeling in mid-teens which eventually led to career in acting.
Is of East-Indian, Tibetan, Latin and Egyptian descent.
Graduated in 1998 from the University of West Florida
First artist to book roles in mainstream, high profile Hollywood and Bollywood projects, all in her first year in the industry (2001).
First artist from the East to be featured on CMT when her duet with Steve Azar "Dancin' In The Clouds" started playing on CMT in 2007. This song also brought an Eastern language to America's CMT for the first time in CMT's history (Hindi language).
