Pallavi Sharda

**Pallavi Sharda** (born 5 March 1992) is an Australian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer of Indian background. She works in Australian, British and Indian movies and television. Sharda is known for her leading role as Asha in the 2022 Netflix romantic comedy *Wedding Season* and for playing Prama in the Academy Award-nominated movie *Lion* (2016).

She has appeared in Hindi movies such as *My Name Is Khan* (2010), *Dus Tola* (2010), *Besharam* (2013), *Hawaizaada* (2015) and *Begum Jaan* (2017). She also had roles in Australian projects including *Save Your Legs!* (2012), the TV dramas *Pulse*, *Les Norton*, *Retrograde*, *The Twelve* and the British Netflix series *The One*.

## Early life 
Sharda was born in Perth, Western Australia, to Indian parents Hema and Nalin Sharda, who are both academics.

She won an academic scholarship to Lowther Hall in Essendon. At the age of 16 she started a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications), as well as a Diploma in Modern Languages (French), at the University of Melbourne. She later finished her degrees with honours.

Sharda trained for many years in Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance form, and also studied some Odissi dance.

## Career 
Sharda moved from Melbourne to Mumbai around 2008 to try for a movie career in India. Her first movie role was a small part in Karan Johar's *My Name Is Khan*, which was released in 2010. In the same year, she played Geeta, a village dance teacher, in the Hindi movie *Dus Tola*.

Sharda made her Australian movie debut with the cricket comedy *Save Your Legs!*, released in 2012. She then starred opposite Ranbir Kapoor in *Besharam* (2013). In *Hawaizaada* (2015) she played a dancer in late nineteenth century Bombay, and in *Begum Jaan* (2017) she played Gulabo, a sex worker in rural Punjab.

In 2016, Sharda joined Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman in the movie *Lion*, where she played the role of Prama. She later acted in the live action movie *Tom & Jerry* (2021).

Sharda has also done a lot of television work. She played Tanya Kalchuri in the Australian medical drama *Pulse* (2017). She then appeared in *Beecham House*, *Strike Back*, and the ABC comedy *Retrograde* (2020). In 2021, she played Megan Chapman in the British Netflix series *The One*. In 2022 she was part of the main cast of the Australian drama *The Twelve*, which led to a Logie nomination for most outstanding supporting actress for her role as juror Corrie D'Souza.

Outside of drama, she has worked as a presenter. In 2016 she joined the Sony ESPN team as one of the faces of their coverage of the Indian Premier League cricket competition.

In 2022, Sharda played the lead role of Asha in the Netflix romantic comedy *Wedding Season*, which brought her wider attention with global streaming audiences.

## Other work 
Sharda won the Miss India Australia title in 2010 in Sydney. In 2015 she was named Queen of Moomba, Melbourne's largest community festival, together with former cricketer Shane Warne.

Sharda is involved in charity and public speaking. She has worked with the social enterprise eKutir on projects in rural India and has encouraged support for sanitation and health programs there. She has spoken at events about Asia literacy in Australia, India-Australia relations and women's rights.

In 2023, Sharda was appointed to the board of Screen Australia, becoming its youngest member and the first of Indian background. She has also supported campaigns for World Vision Australia and the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation through the Witchery White Shirt campaign.

## References