Padma Lakshmi or Padma Parvati Lakshmi (born September 1, 1970) is an Indian American cookbook author, actress, and former model who claims to be the first well-known model from India. Padma Lakshmi has been the host of the reality television program "Top Chef" since season two.
Padma Lakshmi got the 1st break into movies in a comical supporting role as the lip synching disco singer "Sylk" in the 2001 American movie "Glitter with Mariah Carey". She starred with Amitabh Bachchan and Jackie Shroff in the 2003 Hindi action box office failure "Boom" as "Shiela Bardez", one of a trio of super models which includes "Katrina Kaif" the reining queen of Bollywood. Lakshmi was last seen on screen as "Geeta" with ishwarya Rai and Dylan McDermott in Paul Mayeda Berges' 2005 film "The Mistress of Spices". She will be seen soon in Deepa Mehta's upcoming film, "Komagata Maru" which was earlier titled "Exclusion".
