I'm half Jewish, but no one believes me because my looks lean a little WASP-y... It's sometimes hard for me to get the roles I'm drawn to.
You can't be an actor in a small town-you have to go to New York or L.A.
When I first got into acting, I never had any long-term goals, never had any plan. I just thought it would be a good way to make some extra money.
I've seen many actors go awry by making the wrong choices early on.
I would love to do more movies, but the reality is women have many more opportunities on television to play a greater variety of characters.
In Delhi, I became a serious stage actor. Then, luckily, the FTII acting course began, and I studied there, spent some time working on my craft. In 2008, I moved to Mumbai, and then in one and a half years of so-called struggle, I got my first film, 'Love Sex aur Dhokha' (LSD).
I've had a fantastic career playing great parts. In many ways, the colour of my skin has been an asset because I've been asked to play certain roles as a result. I don't apologise for playing them anymore than Robert de Niro is sorry for playing American-Italians.
Coming from New Zealand and Australia is like a tough pre-school for Hollywood. And having been on 'Neighbours,' even though the agents I met with hadn't seen it, they knew it's where Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce had come from. It was a foot in the door.
I auditioned for 'American Sniper' and didn't get a role.
I realized that once I graduated from college, there might be a period of time where people might typecast me or be more limiting, and I might not be able to play a crazy character. For me, it was important to do that at least in school.
I was offered Vicky Kaushal's role in 'Lust Stories,' which I had declined.
I auditioned nine times for 'Delhi Belly,' and it was torturous!
At first I was always cast as the girlfriend. It was a long time before I got to play characters who were people.
I wasn't straining at the bit to become a movie star any more than I had plotted to get out of vaudeville and into Broadway musicals.
For some reason, I always get offered plays when I'm doing plays and then, if I stop doing them, people stop asking me.
I did a year of 'Guiding Light', and I was going to be a movie actor or a stage actor, but not a TV actor. That just wasn't going to happen. And obviously, things changed so remarkably.
There's so many things I want to accomplish in the world of acting. But, the two most important are that I want to keep paying the bills and I want to get better. That's about it. I enjoy what I do. I'll stay busy. I've been lucky.
I got good offers from Bollywood because I can speak Hindi very well.
I remember when I first came to Los Angeles being staggered by the range of roles open to me. These were leading parts in shiny new projects, and what always excited me was knowing there was a possibility that I could actually get these parts. I always had the impression that I had a chance.
I was thrust, excitingly, via 'Elizabeth' and 'Shakespeare in Love,' into a position one can only dream of, but it was startling, too. I was offered a multitude of roles riding horses in flouncy shirts, and I just thought, 'Hang on, I've just done that. What next?'
Every time you do a movie, it's important for your career, your reputation.
I gave up a long time ago trying to figure out what will happen in an acting career.
When I moved to Los Angeles to be on the radio, there was an acting school on every corner. You can't be in L.A. and not be into acting.
Acting is very competitive. There are few good scripts out there and the ones that are good are very competitive. You look at your options and often times they're not too appealing.
When I was seven, I had been very vocal about wanting to be an actor. And my mom decided that we would try it out for a couple weeks and come to L.A. from Sacramento.
