Nitya Vidyasagar

Vidyasagar was born in Muscat, Oman on July 11, 1985. She grew up in India and the United States. She received a BFA with Honors in Drama Tisch School of the Arts and a Minor in Music from the College of Arts and Sciences, New York University.[1]

Vidyasagar is the first Indian-American cast member of Sesame Street. Leela runs a laundromat next to Mr. Hooper's Store. Sesame Street producers were not looking for an Indian-American actress before they cast Vidyasagar,[2] but the show's writers plan to use parts of Vidyasagar's background in certain episodes.[1] Leela is described as "a young Indian-American who embraces her heritage and culture".[3]

Vidyasagar is primarily a stage actress. She trained at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.[4]

Her stage credits include:

• Yalda in the world premiere of Modern Terrorism: Or They Who Want to Kill Us and How We Learn to Love Them at Second Stage Theater[5]
• Armanda (understudy): The Glorious Ones at the Lincoln Center Theater
• Anna: Serendib[6] at the Ensemble Studio Theatre
• Cecilia: Cecilia's Last Tea Party[7][8] at the Passage Theatre Company
• Puck: A Midsummer Night's Dream[9] at the Flux Theatre Ensemble
• Janine: NINJA: The Musical at Desipina & Co
• Emma: Monetizing Emma[10] at the Planet Connections Festival
• Anna: Coney Island Avenue at the New York Theatre Workshop

Her screen and television work includes appearances in:

• Split Ends feature film. Back Pocket Prod (Dir. Dorothy Lyman)
• The Good Wife[11]
• Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Guest star 20th Century Fox (Dir. Oliver Stone)
• Sita Sings The Blues: (Dir. Nina Paley)
• Sesame Street PBS Series Regular Leela.
• Suits as Stephanie Patel (one of the associates at Pearson Specter Litt)
• Smash “Lets Be Bad” as Jill Abrams

• Nitya Vidyasagar at IMDb