Lekha Washington

Lekha Washington (born on April 30, 1984 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) is an Indian film actress and model, who has appeared in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu films and Kannada language films.

After appearing as a video jockey with SS Music, Lekha's breakthrough film role was as an independent estranged sister in Jayamkondaan (2008), whilst she has gone on to portray roles in the multi-starrer Vedam and the comedy Va.

Lekha Washington was born April 30, 1984 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India to a father of mixed Burmese, Italian and Punjabi ancestry, Kenneth, and a Maharashtrian mother. Despite the mixed heritage, Lekha has stated she considers herself South Indian due to her upbringing and speaks English and Marathi at home.

Lekha pursued a degree in Fine Arts at Stella Maris College, Chennai and went on to attend the National Institute of Design taking courses in first, Lifestyle Product Design, and then re-applying to enrol in the Film and Video Communication course.

During her time studying film-making, she opted that she preferred a career in "front of the camera, rather than from behind". During her time on the course, she made three short films called Spoonerism, Catch 22 and Sunn with locations ranging from Myanmar to Mauritius.

While pursuing her education, she decided to appear in Chetan Shah's experimental English film, Framed, and subsequently received offers to be a music video jockey from SS Music. Lekha was signed on to play the lead role of an orthodox Brahmin girl alongside Silambarasan in his project Kettavan, however despite completing a schedule the film was shelved later cancelled.