Mumbai-born actor Freida Pinto found fame after being cast in 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire: she had been working as a model for Wrigley’s Chewing Gum, Škoda and Vodafone, and was picked by Danny Boyle to star as the love interest to British-born star Dev Patel. (Boyle, meanwhile, cast Patel on the recommendation of his daughter who had seen him [and his naked bum!] in Skins.)
After Slumdog cleaned up at the award dos, Pinto went on to become a household name, with the unusual career trajectory for an Indian actor of having not featured in any homegrown Bollywood movies, skipping straight to Hollywood, where she’s stayed ever since. She featured as James Franco’s primatologist love interest in 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and one of the few human characters in 2018’s Jungle Book update, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw described her latest film, period drama Mr Malcolm’s List, as “engagingly silly and self-aware”.
There should be plenty to ask Pinto: her experiences of auditioning for a Bond girl (for 2008’s Casino Royale), perhaps? Her thoughts on “colour blind” casting and avoiding roles that depict racial stereotypes. Or her appearance in the video for Gorilla by Bruno Mars where, boy, she showed can she bust some moves.
We’re speaking to her on Thursday 22 September at 6pm, so please get your questions in before then, and we’ll print her answers in Film&Music and online very soon.
• Mr Malcolm’s List is out on DVD and Blu-ray on 3 October.
