Himarsha Venkatsamy (born on the 15th of February, 1984), also known as Himarsha V is a South African actress, model, television host and anchor of Indian descent. Known for having won the Kingfisher Calendar Hunt in 2009. She made a special appearance in a Bollywood romantic comedy I Hate Luv Storys, in 2010 and had her first breakthrough playing Jhumpa, a tiger tracker, in the action film Roar: Tigers of the Sundarbans. Himarsha has recently moved to the United Kingdom and signed with an agency in London. Her new movie Black Bud was released in 2021. Early life and family Himarsha Venkatsamy was born on the 15th of February, 1984 to an Indian family in Durban, South Africa. Her mother is Pam Venkatsamy and her father is Chris Venkatsamy, a clinical psychologist. She has an older brother, Divashan Venkatsamy and sister, Terushka Venkatsamy who is a South African model and actress. Himarsha said that her interest in the Arts, and Drama comes from her father who was an English Professor and Theatre actor before becoming a Clinical Psychologist. Often as a child she spent time performing dance recitals and short plays for family and friends. She studied in an all girls High School where she honed her craft in Drama and Art. Venkatsamy graduated from, University of the Witwaterstrand in Johannesburg with a BSc Physiotherapy Degree. Venkatsamy modeled from an early age and appeared in numerous local television commercials. She also made an appearance in the South-African game show Deal or No Deal where she was cast as the main love interest in French artist David Salsedo's cult music video - 'Mon amour', shot in Cape Town, South Africa. Venkatsamy was also scouted in Johannesburg by IMG and flew to India for Lakme fashion week in 2009 where she walked for (Tarun Tahiliani, Rohit Bal, Ritu Kumar, Abujani Sandeep Khosla, Masaba Gupta, Neeta Lulla, Anamika Khanna, Suneet Varma, Vikram Phadnis, ) in Indian Fashion. Later she was cast for the reality show, Kingfisher Calendar Model Hunt which she won and thereafter made a star feature on the 2010 Kingfisher Calendar shot by Atul Kasbekar. The following year, Venkatsamy hosted the show alongside supermodel, Miland Soman. Career After being scouted by IMG for Lakmé Fashion Week, Himarsha moved to Mumbai and signed with Toabh Talents. Through the agency she was cast in a new reality show called The Kingfisher Calendar Model Hunt. She went on to win the glamorous and prestigious show further appearing in their calendar in 2010. Having a successful career in modeling, according to Venkatsamy it was at this point that her career skyrocketed and the following year she hosted The Kingfisher Calendar Model Hunt. Soon after Himarsha started casting for Bollywood films and made her debut in ROAR, an action, adventure and sci-fi movie directed by Kamal Sadanah. The film was premiered by Salman Khan on 31st July 2014, ahead of its original release date of 31st October. This film won best visual effects. She made her first appearance in director Punit Malhortra's I Hate Luv Storys. Later she was cast as the lead role in director Kamal Sadanah's Roar: Tigers of the Sundarbans (2014) where she played tiger tracker and environmental activist Jhumpa. For this role, Venkatsamy was nominated for best new Actress at the Star Awards. Himarsha is also famously known for her role as 'Unniyarcha', a legendary warrior and heroine mentioned in a set of ballads from Kerala, South India, in director Jayaraaj's adaptation of Macbeth, Veeram (2016). Venkatsamy also played a runaway, Sanya, who left her troubled home in Chandigarh for the city of Mumbai in Black Bud (yet to be released). Roar: Jhumpa (2014) Himarsha was cast as the lead role in Roar: Tigers of the Sundarbans (2014), an Indian Hindi-language film written and directed by Kamal Sadanah. She played the role of a tiger tracker and environmental activist Jhumpa. The film starred Abhinav Shukla and Nora Fatehi. Venkatsamy's role Jhumpa featured a local girl who grew up in a village in the Sunderbans who devoted her life to protecting the wildlife in the area she grew up in. As a tiger tracker she assists wildlife photographers and brings awareness to the public about these majestic creatures even though she lost her father due to a tiger attack. Her wild and courageous spirit mirrors the tigress. She feels protected and surrounded by the jungle and moves through as if she were a part of it. Jhumpa feels more comfortable with wild animals, than with humans, hence she chooses to be a lone soul in the jungle. To prepare for the role Himarsha stated she tried to embody the movement of wild cats and watched how trackers studied the way of the land. She lived in boats on the Sunderbans for 3 months, waking up at 3am to get into hair and make-up to shoot by sunrise. At the location of the shoot Venkatsamy said she had encountered a dangerous situation while doing her own stunt. She swam from one boat to another in the Sundarbans river despite the waters known for crocodiles, snakes and many other dangerous creatures. Himarsha was nominated for best new Actress at the Star Awards for the role of Jhumpa. Veeram: Unniyarcha (2016) Veeram is a 2016 adaptation of William Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, and is the fifth installment in Jayaraj's Navarasa series. Himarsha played the role of 'Unniyarcha', a legendary warrior and heroine mentioned in a set of ballads from Kerala, South India. Himarsha starred alongside Kunal Kapoor. In order to prepare for the role Himarsha said she learned Kalarippayattu, an Indian form of martial arts that originated in Kerala. The movie was shot in the majestic Ajanta and Ellora caves. Veeram was the first feature film shot in that location in three languages - Malayalam, Hindi and English. Venkatsamy is said to have sat with language and diction coaches for weeks to prepare for the role. Oscar and Emmy winning makeup artist, Trefor Proud worked on the action movie. Black bud: Sanya (2018) Venkatsamy played a runaway, Sanya, who left her troubled home in Chandigarh for the city of Mumbai. Himarsha starred alongside Atul Kilkarni, the film also featured the celebrated and late actor Asif Basra. Himarsha said that Sanya was a complex role that felt instinctual to play. The character Sanya is a poet, artist, and free spirit searching for a sense of self. Having run away from a troubled home, Sanya finds herself in the tangles of a big city. To prepare for the role Himarsha is said to have spent many hours with the director studying art and working on her accent to bring authenticity to the character. Himarsha said she used her own experience of past relationships to embody the emotions of the intense scenes between Sanya and the other characters. Television and film debut Venkatsamy headed to Mumbai after being scouted by IMG for Lakme fashion week. She then signed with Toabh Talents and was cast in a new reality show called The Kingfisher Calendar Model Hunt. She went on to win the glamorous and prestigious show further appearing in their calendar in 2010. Having a successful career in modeling, Venkatsamy said her career skyrocketed and the following year she hosted The Kingfisher Calendar Model Hunt. Soon after Himarsha started casting for Bollywood films and made her debut in ROAR, an action, adventure and sci-fi movie directed by Kamal Sadanah. She also made an appearance in director Punit Malhortra's romance/musical, I Hate Luv Storys. Career challenges Moving to Mumbai and having her career suddenly take off was a big change from being a Medical student according to Himarsha. She did not come from a film background or speak Hindi at the time and felt the challenges of Bollywood.