Amara Karunakaran (born 1 January 1984) is an English actress. She made her film debut in 2007 as Rita in Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited, which premiered Venice Film Festival, and Peaches in St Trinian's. She made her stage debut in 2008 as Jessica in an RSC production of The Merchant of Venice and as Bianca in an RSC production of The Taming of the Shrew. With the latter, she made her West End debut at the Novello Theatre. In 2016, she co-starred on the HBO crime drama mini-series, The Night Of. In 2012, she co-starred in the film A Fantastic Fear of Everything.

Background

Karan was born to Sri Lankan Tamil parents who had emigrated from Zambia to Britain two years before she was born. She was brought up in Wimbledon and attended Wimbledon High School. Karan went on to study at St Catherine's College, Oxford and while there began acting in amateur plays including Sunday Morning at the Centre of the World at the Burton Taylor Theatre for which she received rave reviews and was also singled out for her performance in When We Are Married at the Old Fire Station theatre. During her time at Oxford, Karan wrote, directed, produced, and acted in a short film, By Myself, which came in second place in the 2002 Shoestring Shorts Competition. She began her career as an investment banker (at Hawkpoint and CIBC World Markets) specialising in mergers and acquisitions, before studying for an MA degree in acting at The Arts Educational Schools London. She carried the 2008 Olympic Torch during its time in London. Since 2016 she has been in a relationship with the actor Jamie de Courcey.

Filmography

Film

Television

Radio

Theatre

Video games