WestJet Magazine – November, 2006

Beauty & the Feast

Check out most lists claiming to cite "The World's Most Beautiful Women" and chances are good you'll see Padma Lakshmi's name in the mix. But Lakshmi isn't just a hot babe. The actress (Glitter, Star Trek: Enterprise, Sharpe's Challenge) is also a model who's strutted her stuff down runways for the likes of Ralph Lauren and Alberto Ferretti.

She's also an award-winning cookbook author, releasing her second book next spring. Her husband, novelist Salman Rushdie, apparently likes to test her recipes. An avid traveller who regularly traipses around the globe, Lakshmi was born and raised in India, now lives in New York, and loves the intimacy of friendly small towns like Telluride, Colorado—one of her favourite places.

"It just has a lot of history and it's a small, wonderful little mountain town. I don't ski—I'm a girl from South India—but I do love the snow, probably because I grew up around the beach, and it's something completely different for me.

It also has one of the best film festivals. I've actually only been once, but I've wanted to go back. The town really comes together, and you'll have, for instance, films that will take place in what is actually the [town's] hugh school basketball court or gymnasium.

I'm taking a break from filming right now to finish my second cookbook, but I have a mini-series coming out this fall called Sharpe's Challenge. It was filmed in Rajasthan. I've only been to Rajasthan once. I usually go back to India once a year around Christmastime. I still have lots of family there.

North India, where we were filming is completely different. It was just a joy to go to work every day. We shot in all the palaces and forts; we had access to all these amazing historical sites that most Indians only read about in history books.

[My character's] name is Madhuvanthi. She grows up in the palace as a child courtesan and quickly becomes the favourite of the king, so that when he dies, he appoints her regent of the kingdom because his sole heir is too young to rule. She's very Machiavellian, very determined, very politically ambitious.

The costumes were unbelievable. I'm still not immune to the joys of costuming. In theatre school, I studied costuming and I actually apprenticed with a costume designer as part of my degree, so I really enjoy that aspect of the job. Half the battle in a role like this is looking the part, so it was a sheer pleasure."

—as told to Shelley Boettcher