Sarita Choudhury

Some people are very ambitious and plan their whole careers, but I am not that kind of a person.

I want my life to match my work now. I don't want to work and then travel. I want to be at one place.

I am interested in independent cinema and theatre, and they don't make news.

I believe in doing a nude scene only when I trust the director.

If a filmmaker is making a movie about a nice Midwestern family or a story that needs a very white character or a black or a Chinese, then I don't expect to go up for it. But I know, especially in places like New York, there's no excuse not to see various colors.

In America, they often don't know where I am from. The important point is the audience should not be able see through it. It should be so natural that your close friends may even think that you are not a great actor.

My first time nude was with a woman director, so I thought it would be easy, but it wasn't.

The first time I put on the hijab, it felt weird, like I was wearing a scuba-diving suit kind of thing.

I am trained in theatre, and so I take time to study and get into the skin of a character.

No matter how much I read the news, I feel slightly ignorant all the time.

I think I have a certain awkwardness, and I don't know how that works on screen.

People are always asking me if the industry is changing, and my answer is always that it is changing only as much as we are. Many South Asian actors complain about being pigeonholed into playing terrorists and cab drivers, but it's time that we stop talking about it. The industry will always say 'No' till we have enough to convince them.