Rhonda Mitra

By Mary Joah on August 18th, 2008

Name : Rhona Mitra
Birth date : August 9, 1976
Birth place : Paddington, London, England, UK
Height : 5′ 8
Education : Roedean in East Brighton
Nationality : British
Occupation : Actress
As much a part of the Tomb Raider gaming culture as the computer character she portrayed at trade shows, Rhona Mitra can be seen in awesome pictorials inside many men’s magazines. Her subsequent move to TV and movies is as welcome as her 34DD bust line. She appears in hit flicks like Doomsday, The Boy In The Box, The Number 23, and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

Personal Life
Mitra was born in Paddington, London, England, the daughter of Nora and Antony Mitra, who is a cosmetic surgeon; she has an older and younger brother.Her father is of Indian descent while her mother is Irish. In 1984, when Mitra was eight, her parents divorced and, as part of an overall lifestyle change, she was sent to boarding school. Several years passed at two different all-girls schools, including Roedean, but Mitra claims she was eventually expelled from both of them. She has been quoted as saying: “I was kicked out [of Roedean] for taking a sixth-former’s car and driving it down to the local boys’ school. I was only 14. I left stuffing under my bed sheets but one of my friends told on me and the headmistress tracked me down. They put me in this room with bars on the windows to punish me. I was stuck in there for a whole week with just a rosary for comfort, having my dinner brought in on trays. The only time I got out was to say confession to the school priest. After that, they booted me out. Then at the next school the other girls used to blame me whenever they got caught for something, so all the parents wrote in and said they didn’t want me at the school. I crammed my exams in London and did fine.

Success
After a difficult childhood at several boarding schools and a busy nightlife involving partying and drugs in her late teens, Rhona enrolled in drama school for a year, determined to become an actress. Following her departure, she won roles in small theater productions, as well as guest spots on television, including British dramas The Bill and Ghostbusters of East Finchley.

After appearing in the 1997 mini-series The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous and the adventure sequel A Kid In Aladdin’s Palace, Rhona pursued modelling and won the role of Lara Croft, a character she played during promotional tours for the video game. During this time, Rhona again branched out and recorded an album, Come Alive with Dave Stewart.

Now relatively famous in the UK, Rhona hosted the music series The Pepsi Chart Show for two years, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Rhona quickly won supporting roles in major movies including Hollow Man and the Get Carter remake, and recurred on the FOX teen drama Party of Five in its final season. Her fan-favorite role as a British medical student lead to a leading role on the ABC medical drama Gideon’s Crossing. While the show was quickly canceled, a talent deal with the network lead to a series regular role on the successful courtroom drama The Practice as Tara Wilson. She and co-star James Spader later jumped ship to the spin-off series Boston Legal, which she starred on for one season, before leaving to join the cast of the FX plastic surgery drama Nip/Tuck, playing bisexual nymphomaniac detective Kit McGraw.

Outside of TV, Rhona continued to take movie roles, appearing in the comedy Stuck on You, drama The Life of David Gale and the Reese Witherspoon vehicle Sweet Home Alabama. Her latest roles include the werewolf horror movie Skinwalkers, action thriller Shooter and The Number 23.

2008 sees Rhona leading the sci-fi action film Doomsday. She will also appear in the thriller The Boy In the Box and, replacing Kate Beckinsale, the blockbuster prequel Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

Filmography
* Ghostbusters of East Finchley (1995) as Cass (as “Rona Mitra”)
* Lust for Glorious (1997) as French girl #1
* The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous (1997) as Flora Seymour
* The Pepsi Chart (1998) as herself (co-presenter)
* A Kid in Aladdin’s Palace (1998) as Sheherazade
* Croupier (1998) as Girl with joint
* Monk Dawson (1998) as Mollie
* Beowulf (1999) as Kyra
* Secret Agent Man (2000) as Lacey Sullivan
* Party of Five (2000) as Holly Begins
* Hollow Man (2000) as Sebastian’s Neighbor
* Get Carter (2000) as Geraldine
* Gideon’s Crossing (2000) as Dr. Alejandra ‘Ollie’ Klein
* Ali G Indahouse (2002) as Kate Hedges
* Sweet Home Alabama (2002) as Tabatha Wadmore-Smith
* Highwaymen (2003) as Molly
* The Life of David Gale (2003) as Berlin
* Stuck on You (2003) as Bus Stop Bombshell
* The Practice (2003) as Tara Wilson
* Spartacus (2004) as Varinia
* Boston Legal (2004) as Tara Wilson
* Nip/Tuck (2005) as Detective Kit McGraw
* Skinwalkers (2006) as Rachel
* The Number 23 (2007) as Laura Tollins
* Shooter (2007) as Alourdes Galindo
* Doomsday (2008) as Eden Sinclair
* The Boy in the Box (2008) as Barbara
* Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) as Sonja

Trivia

She hates watching horror movies, but loves making them, which is why she was happy to sign on to horror thrillers including Highwaymen, Hollow Man and The Number 23.

Her dialogue in the movie Croupier was dubbed over by an Australian actress. The reason is unknown.

As of 2006, she lives in a beach house near Venice Beach, California.

She moved from her native London to Los Angeles in 2000.

She is good friends with musician John Mayer.

She shares a birthday with Jessica Capshaw, one of her co-stars on The Practice.

She left Boston Legal at the start of its second season.

Her favorite holiday is Halloween.

She owns a ‘66 Dodge Dart convertible, which she calls Diana.

She is a huge fan of the Star Wars movies. One of her main acting ambitions is to star in a sci-fi blockbuster.

Her father is a plastic surgeon and her mother is a caterer.

She owns a bulldog named Oscar.

She had breast implants in order to make herself a more convincing Lara Croft, who she was modelling as at the time.

She made an audition for the role of Lara Croft.

She is 5′ 8″ (1.73 m) tall

Rhona’s father is a renowned cosmetic surgeon, and at the time of her breast implant surgery, there was some speculation over whether or not it had been performed by her father.

In 1984, Rhona’s parents divorced.

Rhona was raised as a Roman Catholic.

Rhona’s mother is Irish Catholic and her father is of half-Bengali Indian and half-English descent.

Rhona is the daughter of Nora and Anthony Mitra.

She attended Roedean, an all-girls school in Brighton, East Sussex, but was expelled.