Lolita Chakrabarti

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Lolita Chakrabarti, born in 1969 in Kingston upon Hull, England, is a British actress and writer. She grew up in Birmingham with Bengali Hindu parents; her father was an orthopaedic surgeon. She studied at the Convent of the Holy Child Jesus in Birmingham and then trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1990. She presented the BBC children’s show Numbertime from 1993 to 1996 and later appeared on TV in Vigil, Showtrial and The Wheel of Time, among other programs. She also acted in The Bill from 1996 to 1999 as WPC Jamila Blake.

In theatre, Chakrabarti has produced and starred in many notable works. Highlights include Fanny and Alexander at The Old Vic (2018), Gertrude in Hamlet with Tom Hiddleston (directed by Kenneth Branagh, 2017), The Great Game: Afghanistan (2009), and Last Seen (which she co-wrote) at the Almeida (2009). She also performed in Free Outgoing at the Royal Court (2008), John Gabriel Borkman at the Donmar Warehouse (2007), and The Hunt at St. Ann’s Warehouse (2024). Her play Red Velvet, about the 1830s African-American actor Ira Aldridge, premiered at the Tricycle Theatre in 2012 and later moved to the West End and the United States. Red Velvet earned Chakrabarti the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright in 2012 and earned multiple nominations and other prizes, including a Critics’ Circle Award in 2013 and an Olivier nomination in 2013.

Chakrabarti has also created and adapted several major works. Life of Pi, adapted from Yann Martel’s novel, premiered at the Crucible Theatre in 2019 and transferred to the West End’s Wyndham’s Theatre in 2021, earning numerous Olivier nominations and five wins, including Best New Play. She published Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti: A Working Diary in 2020, chronicling a year in their professional lives. Her play Hymn opened at the Almeida Theatre in 2020 and was streamed online in 2021. She adapted Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities into a stage piece, which was presented at international festivals and later reimagined as a virtual reality film titled Stones of Venice.

In 2023, her adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet premiered at Stratford-upon-Avon’s Swan Theatre and then moved to London’s Garrick Theatre, running from September 2023 to February 2024. She has also worked as a dramaturg on productions such as Message in a Bottle at Sadler’s Wells and Sylvia at the Old Vic, and she ran Lesata Productions with Rosa Maggiora, producing projects including Of Mary, a short film that won an award in 2012.

Chakrabarti was honored as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2021 for her services to drama. She is the sister of BBC News presenter Reeta Chakrabarti and was married to actor Adrian Lester, with whom she has two daughters.