ANGLO-INDIAN HOLLYWOOD ACTORS WHOSE INDIAN ANCESTRY WAS CAREFULLY HIDDEN

Merle Oberon

Born Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson in Bombay in 1911, Oberon was of mixed British, Sinhalese and Indian descent. Her darker-skinned mother/grandmother lived with her as her "maid". To pass as white in Hollywood, Oberon concocted an elaborate origin story claiming she was born in Hobart, Tasmania, to upper-class white parents, and that her birth records were destroyed in a fire.

Boris Karloff

Born William Henry Pratt in London in 1887, the iconic horror star behind Frankenstein’s Monster had Anglo-Indian heritage. His father and maternal grandmother were both of mixed Anglo-Indian descent. Karloff had a naturally dark complexion, an accent, and distinct facial features that led to questions in class-conscious Edwardian Britain and early Hollywood. The family downplayed their mixed roots for generations due to British colonial social stigmas, a secret Karloff kept throughout his screen career.

Vivien Leigh

Born Vivian Mary Hartley in Darjeeling, India, in 1913, the Gone with the Wind star was born to a British broker father and a mother, Gertrude Yackjee, who had Anglo-Indian (and possibly Armenian) roots. To fit into the rigid archetype of a classical British stage beauty and later the quintessential Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara, Leigh's mother’s background was publicly framed purely as "French and Irish".

Julie Christie

Born in Assam, India, in 1941, the Oscar-winning star of Darling and Doctor Zhivago was the daughter of a British tea plantation manager. Her father had a child with an Indian tea picker, making Christie half-sibling to an Anglo-Indian family branch, while her own maternal line carried mixed Anglo-Indian traces from the colonial era.

Sir Ben Kingsley

Born Krishna Pandit Bhanji in Yorkshire to an English mother and a Gujarati Indian father. Early in his career, he changed his name to Ben Kingsley out of concern that a Indian/Gujarati name would hinder his stage and screen casting prospects. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing Mahatma Gandhi in Gandhi (1982).

Gillian Anderson

While of overwhelmingly European descent, Anderson has partial Anglo-Indian roots traced back through her maternal family's history in colonial India.

OTHERS

Freddie Mercury

Born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar to Parsi-Indian parents, the legendary Queen frontman spent much of his childhood attending boarding school in Panchgani, India. After moving to England, he adopted the stage name Freddie Mercury as Queen took off.

Engelbert Humperdinck

Born Arnold George Dorsey in Madras, India, the iconic pop balladeer was born to a Welsh father serving in the British Army and an Anglo-Indian mother.

Sir Cliff Richard

He was born Harry Rodger Webb in 1940 at King George's Hospital in Lucknow, British India. His father worked as a catering manager for the Indian Railways. The family lived in Lucknow and Howrah until 1948, when they moved to England aboard the SS Ranchi following Indian independence. His family lineage in India spanned generations on both sides, with his maternal side tracing back to Anglo-Indian roots, along with Spanish ancestry.

Though his birthplace in India was documented, his family's specific Anglo-Indian lineage was often downplayed or simply summarized as "British in colonial India" early in his career.

Norah Jones

The nine-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter is the daughter of Indian sitar virtuoso Pandit Ravi Shankar and American concert producer Sue Jones. Though she never hid her Indian ancestry probably because her father was too famous globally.

Tony Kanal

The bassist and co-writer for the American rock band No Doubt was born in Kingsbury, London, to Indian parents who later relocated the family to the United States.