Poorna Jagannathan

Poorna Jagannathan (born December 22, 1972) is an American producer and actress of Indian descent. She is best known for her portrayal of Safar Khan in the HBO drama miniseries The Night Of, as well for her role as Nalini Vishwakumar in the Netflix teen comedy series Never Have I Ever by Mindy Kaling. She also co-conceived, produced and acted in the play Nirbhaya, which was praised as "one of the most powerful and urgent pieces of human rights theatre ever made," and is considered a watershed moment in India's history of women's empowerment. Jagannathan was named among the top 100 Most Impactful Asians in America in 2021 and 2022 by Goldhouse. She was featured among the top 10 in Femina magazine's "India's 50 most beautiful women" in 2012, and Verve magazine named her among the top 50 most powerful women in India in 2014. Early life Jagannathan was born in Tunis, Tunisia, to Vasantha Jagannathan and G. Jagannathan, an Indian diplomat, on December 22, 1972. She grew up in Pakistan, Ireland, India, Brazil and Argentina and speaks Tamil, Hindi, English, Spanish and Portuguese. Jagannathan attended the University of Brasília before graduating in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park. On a scholarship, she began a Master of Fine Arts in acting at the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University. Although she dropped out after the first year, she continued to study acting under her mentor, Elizabeth Kemp, whom she met there. Jagannathan went on to train at The Barrow Group where she is currently a board and company member and cites The Barrow Group as the place she learned how to become a professional, working actor. Before her career as an actor, Jagannathan spent 15 years working in advertising at agencies like TBWA\Worldwide, Ogilvy, and Deutsch Inc. before starting her own consultancy, Cowgirls & Indians.