Tina Desai Bio: In Her Own Words – Video Exclusive, News, Photos

Tina Desai is an Indian model and actress best known for her roles in the television series Sense8 and film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. This Tina Desai bio will let the actress tell her story in her own words.

Tina Desai Bio: Age, Early Life

Tina Desai was born in Bangalore on February 24, 1987 (Tina Desai age: 36). She continued her higher education at the National Institute of Management College where she studied Business Management and specialized in finance. She speaks four different Indian dialects — Gujarati, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi — as well as English.   

Tina Desai Bio: Early Career

Tina Desai first came into the public eye as a contestant on the reality TV modeling competition Get Gorgeous. She did not win the competition but impressed judges and producers and was still offered a contract with Elite Model India Management which was originally just reserved as the prize for the contest winner. She officially began modeling with them in 2007.

Her film debut was in Yeh Faasley. She also appeared in the feature films Sahi Dhandhe Galat Bande and Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene.

While modeling helped her grow the reputation needed to land auditions, the film was her goal from the start. “I’ve been a massive fan of Indian actor Shahrukh Khan, and I wanted time to stand still every time I watched his films. I wouldn’t want to move ahead in time. There’s nothing that impacts me as much as movies,” Sesai told uInterview exclusively. “I just want to be stuck in that bubble and not live in the real world. I just thought to myself ‘I should just do movies since I like that world,’ and that’s when the ‘ding’ happened in my head. Ever since I’ve been preparing myself by sitting in front of the mirror and doing scenes from films I liked, and my dad thought I was extremely vain and didn’t help and I was like, ‘No Dad, one day I will show you and create my own acting school.’ So I started off with modeling because I thought that would be a great way to build up some sort of resume, some body of work to get on-job training and then transition to films. So that’s what I did. I did ads then went on to movies, and the West just happened by chance. I meant to do work in Bollywood, and the industry just opened up. And there’s just this new pool of work that opens up that’s just so different in terms of writing and execution, that’s not what we do in India. So it’s nice to dabble in both.”

Tina Desai Bio: International Debut, ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’

Tina Desai’s international debut was in the English comedy-drama film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. She played Sunaina, a call center worker who dates the manager of the failing titular hotel. She also starred in the sequel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. 

She is also a lead actress in the Netflix original show Sense8. Her character Kala Dandekar is a young Indian woman about to be married to a man she does not love. One day she discovers that she is psychically linked with seven strangers from around the world, all dealing with their own challenges in life.

“I think the writers came up with the idea because of mobile phones and how it connects all of us even though we’re in different parts of the world. And they kind of took that a step forward. What if it’s mental and not just technical?” she told uInterview exclusively. “And you also share that with some people, at least I do. I know there’s a friend of mine, every time I go online, like sending him a text he’s possibly sending me a message at that same time. Like how, how? Sometimes you are connected to people like that on a level that’s telepathic or in a way that’s, you know, with someone who can read your mind, like the same friend he knows what I’m going to say before I say it. The writers were considering a more ideal situation where it’s just not on the surface level but far deeper and can make an even bigger impact. On the flip side, we’re all also disconnecting so much because of technology and because of distance. It would be nice if we were a lot more connected, a lot more empathetic and a lot more available for each other. Taking these two things into consideration they came up with the concept.”

Desai also lends her voice in the animated film Thomas & Friends: The Great Race.