Anisha Nagarajan (born May 21, 1983) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her roles in the

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...

theater musical, ''

Bombay Dreams ''Bombay Dreams'' is a Bollywood-themed musical, with music by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Don Black and the book by Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan, originally produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The London production opened in 2002 and ran for two ...

'', and as Madhuri on the 2010

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

television series, '' Outsourced''.

Early life

Nagarajan's parents are emigrants from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Her mother, Geetha Nagarajan, is a former developmental specialist at Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic. Her father, Nandu Nagarajan, is a professor at the

Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business The Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business is the graduate business school of the University of Pittsburgh located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Although business education had its origins at the university in 1907, the Graduate School of Busin ...

at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

. Anisha was born in Evanston, Illinois, raised in the

Squirrel Hill Squirrel Hill is a residential neighborhood in the East End of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The city officially divides it into two neighborhoods, Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South, but it is almost universally treated a ...

neighborhood of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, Pennsylvania, before moving with her family to the suburb of

Fox Chapel Fox Chapel is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA, and is an affluent suburb of Pittsburgh located northeast of downtown. The borough continually garners national prominence and is home to many of the wealthiest and most powerful p ...

. Anisha grew up performing piano under the tutelage of Natasha Snitkovsky. She performed at Carnegie Hall at the age of ten. She also studied Carnatic Classical music. When she was 15 years old, Nagarajan spent a year at a boarding school in India, where she choreographed their production of ''

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'' (often colloquially known as ''Joseph'') is a sung-through musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the character of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis. Thi ...

''. She graduated from

Fox Chapel Area High School Fox Chapel Area High School (Established in 1961) is a public school located in the Pittsburgh suburb of O'Hara Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was recognized and honored as a National Blue Ribbon School twice. The ...

in 2002, where she starred in musical productions alongside famous playwright and composer, Michael Mitnick. She studied acting at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

(NYU) after high school at the Tisch School of Arts Drama department. She was cast as the female lead in the

Broadway musical Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

'' as Priya during her second year at NYU. She married actor

Aalok Mehta Alok is an Indian given name of Sanskrit origin. People with the given name Alok * Alok (DJ) (born 1991), Brazilian DJ and music producer *Alok Bhargava (born 1954), Indian-American econometrician * Alok R. Chaturvedi, Professor of Information Syst ...

, who co-starred in the musical.

Career

Nagarajan appeared in a number of

regional theater A regional theater or resident theater in the United States is a professional or semi-professional theater company that produces its own seasons. The term ''regional theater'' most often refers to a professional theater outside New York City. A reg ...

productions following ''Bombay Dreams'', including the Hangar Theater production of ''

Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...

'' in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

and ''

The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown (writer), William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's childr ...

'' at the

La Jolla Playhouse La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. History La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. In 1983, it was revived under ...

in San Diego, California. She returned to NYU and finished her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

at New York University. Nagarajan was cast as Madhuri, a shy, soft-spoken

call center A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone. ...

employee in the NBC series, '' Outsourced''. She has also Guest starred on ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into se ...

'', '' Code Black'', ''

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...

'' and ''

Ugly Betty ''Ugly Betty'' is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which was originally broadcast on ABC. It premiered on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombian t ...

''. She created the role of Alice in Mira Nair's Musical adaptation of Monsoon Wedding premiering at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Nagarajan is currently performing in

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with sho ...

's ''

Company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

'' on Broadway in the ensemble and understudying for the characters of Joanne and Susan.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nagarajan, Anisha Living people 1983 births American stage actresses American television actresses Actresses from Pittsburgh American actresses of Indian descent People from Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania Tisch School of the Arts alumni