Nimmi Harasgama

Nimmi Harasgama was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka to a Sinhalese father and Tamil mother.^[3] She has two siblings from her father's first marriage: the artist Nelun Harasgama and Prithi Harasgama. When she was five her family moved to the UK where she attended the Westwood House School for Girls a Church of England school.^[3] Nimmi attended Goldsmiths, University of London where she received a B.A. (HONS) in Drama and Theatre Arts. In 2001 she received a scholarship to an Acting in Film Workshop at the New York Film Academy.^[4][5]

After appearing in a supportive role in the English movie Mother Teresa: In the Name of God's Poor in 1997, Nimmi made her first step into Sri Lankan cinema in 2003 playing the lead role in Prasanna Vithanage’s film Ira Madiyama (August Sun) where she played the role of a woman whose husband was missing in action.^[6] Her successful performance brought her positive reviews and several accolades, including the Best Actress award at the 2004 International Film Festival in Spain.^[7][5] Following Ira Madiyama, she appeared in another film about the life of Mother Teresa: Mother Teresa of Calcutta (2003) which was filmed in Sri Lanka and Italy.^[6]

In 2012 she appeared in her first Tamil speaking role in Enakkum oru per (I Too Have a Name), a short film written and directed by Suba Sivakumaran, which was nominated for the Golden Bear for Best Short at the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany.^[5] In 2011 she partnered with ETV, a Sri Lankan television station, to star in the chat show Put a Chat With Auntie Netta based on a character she created.

In 2020 she played the female lead in Deepa Mehta's film Funny Boy based on Shyam Selvadurai's book of the same name. Her performance garnered rave reviews: "Accomplished British-Sri Lankan actress Nimmi Harasgama (also seen in August Sun and the short I Too Have a Name) stands out as the bold, married Nalini..."^[8]

In 2023, she collaborated with Bafta-winning Welsh director Philip John to co-write the cross-cultural romantic comedy film "Chennai Story." The movie, which is directed by Philip John, features Indian superstar Shruti Haasan and rising star Viveik Kalra in leading roles.^[9]