Nihal Lakmal

Nihal Lakmal (2019)

**Nihal Denise Lakmal** (born July 1, 1983) - is an English actress.

## Biography

### Early Life

Nihal Denise Lakmal was born on July 1, 1983 in Leicester, England. Her father Kosala Lakmal (1934-2015) was a Sinhalese from Hambantota, Sri Lanka, which then was Ceylon. Her father moved to England when he was eighteen. When he was twenty five, he married Geraldine McLeod (1936-1965), they had two daughters, Nadeeka (born 1960) and Malinda (born 1962). Geraldine died in 1965, aged twenty nine in a bus crash. Nihal's mother, Louisa Rizzo (born 1943) is a Maltese-English who worked as an English teacher in elementary school. Her parents first met on New Years's Eve in 1980. They started dating week later, engaged in March 1982 and wed on June 28 same year. Her mother is a Christian and her father was a Buddhist. She was their parents only child. With her parents, she grew up in suburbs of Leicester in a two-story house neighoring her older sister, Nadeeka and her husband Jeffrey Field. Lakmal was baptized on August 2, 1983 together with Nadeeka's son, Nathan who was born two days after her and in fact is her half-nephew. Her sister Nadeeka later had two other sons, Adrian (born 1985) and Colin (born 1987). On September 16, 1989 she was a flower girl on Malinda's weeding with Colonel Reginald McKenna (born 1947), they had no children, but they raised together Reginald's daughter, Eleanor (born 1980) from his previous marriage. When she was seven with her parents she moved to a flat in centre of Leicester. In 2001 she graduated Leicester High School for Girls. She had a plans to study chemistry at Univeristy of Leicester but dropped them to became an actress.

### Career

Soon after graduating high school, her parents bought her a flat in Oxford, which was their gift to her on her eighteen birthday. She moved there one month later. After several auditions, she finally won one in October 2001 and got a supporting role in an English romance comedy *Indian Girls*. Film had premiere on September 27, 2002. Lakmal also played in film's sequel, *Indian Girls 2* which premiered on December 12, 2005, and this time played one of the main roles. In January 2006, she was casted in a television series *Playing with Fate* (2004-2009). She got a role of Jaya an Indian-English girl who ran an Indian restaurant named Delhi. Lakmal played in the series until ending. Last episode of series was aired on August 7, 2009. During series, Lakmal played some supporting roles in films such as, *Pleasure* (2006), *Night Hotel* (2008) and *Lace Woman* (2009). In December 2009 she got a main role in a thriller *London Crime Bureau*, which had premiere on November 19, 2010. She got a British Academy Film Award in the category of the Best Actress in a Leading Role, which ceremony was held on February 21, 2010 in Royal Opera House. She played in a Christmas comedy film *Lamps, Christmas Eve and My Crazy Family* which had premiere on Christmas Eve 2012. She has also played in hit adventure film *English Ruins* (2013). In November 2014 she was casted in *Smart Blonde* which premiered on March 2, 2016. In May 2016 she got a main role of Bailey, a zoo keeper in a fantasy comedy *Talking Zoo* which premiered on January 5, 2018. In October 2019 she was casted in a thriller *Close Your Eyes* which premiered on April 25, 2021.

### Personal Life

She started dating director and screenwriter Ernest Hutchings, who is ten years older in June 2005. They met in December 2004 during filming Indian Girls 2. Hutchings engaged to her in August 2007. Their wedding took place in The Mowbray, Sheffield on March 1, 2008. Her bridesmaid was Eleanor McKenna, stepdaughter of her half-sister Malinda. She wore a light blue wedding dress and Ernest wore a matching suit of the same colour. For they honeymoon they flew to Hanoi, Vietnam. In June 2009 they announced that they are expecting their first child, a son. She gave birth to a boy named Kiaan on February 15, 2010. In October 2012, she announced that they adopted a two-months old girl from Bangladesh and named her Ahana. In August 2015, they announced that they adopted second child, a month girl from Japan and named her Megumi. In March 2016, they announced their move to a 1 million pounds family house in Sheffield.