Geraldine Viswanathan

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Geraldine Viswanathan
Geraldine Viswanathan at SXSW Red Carpet premiere of BLOCKERS adjusted (cropped).jpg
Viswanathan in March 2018
Born (1995-06-20) 20 June 1995 (age 26)
Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationActress
Years active2014–present

Geraldine Viswanathan (/ˌvɪswəˈnɑːθən/ VISS-wə-NAH-thən;[1][2] born 20 June 1995)[3] is an Australian actress. She gained attention in the role of Kayla in the 2018 film Blockers,[4] for which Refinery29 referred to her as "the film's breakout star."[5] Viswanathan also starred in the 2019 coming-of-age film Hala,[6] as well as Bad Education opposite Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney.[7] She currently appears in the TBS comedy anthology, Miracle Workers, and previously played a recurring role in Australian series Janet King.[8][9]

Early life[]

Viswanathan's father, Suresh Viswanathan, is a doctor who works in nuclear medicine and of Indian Tamil descent.[10] Her mother, Anja Raith, is from Switzerland and was raised by a father who was a filmmaker and a ballet dancer.[11][12][13] Raith was once an aspiring actress that attended musical theatre school in London before getting married and settling down in Newcastle.[10] She has now started an acting school called Anja's Place.[10]

Viswanathan grew up with a younger sister and a deep love of horses and animals.[14][10] Viswanathan attended the Hunter School of the Performing Arts, Newcastle where she was in drama class.[14][10]

At the age of 15, Viswanathan and her family moved to Los Angeles for a few months where she went through the process of securing a manager with the hopes of obtaining Disney and Nickelodeon roles.[15] In later years, Viswanathan performed standup and sketch comedy with her group named "Freudian Nip.[14]

In 2015, Viswanathan was shortlisted of the Heath Ledger Scholarship.[10] She contemplated going to university to study international studies and media, but instead dove into acting and made working in America her goal as roles in Australia are limited.[15]

Career[]

At the age of four, Viswanathan appeared in a Kodak television commercial.[10]

In 2016 she appeared in Emo the Musical and went to Los Angeles for her first pilot season.[16][10]

In 2017, Viswanathan joined the cast of ABC's drama series Janet King in the role of Bonnie.

Her big break came in 2018 when she was cast in the movie Blockers alongside Leslie Mann and John Cena who played her father.[10] In the same year she was cast in the Netflix movie The Package and the drama film Hala which went to Sundance Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter included her in its Next Gen Talent list as one of "20 rising stars among the blockbuster breakouts and small-screen discoveries who are shaking up the industry".[10]

In 2019, Viswanathan was cast in the anthology series Miracle Workers alongside Steve Buscemi and Daniel Radcliffe.[17][18]

Bad Education sees Viswanathan play alongside Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney as the character of Rachel.[14] The film is based on a true story of an embezzlement scandal and received critical acclaim at Sundance Film Festival and some Emmy nominations.[14][10]

Viswanathan filmed the Selena Gomez's produced feature film, The Broken Hearts Gallery in Toronto, Canada. The film was due to be released in 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[14] In the film she stars alongside fellow Australian, Dacre Montgomery, as she plays the heroine Lucy, a gallery assistant who struggles to give up items from past relationships.[14][10][19] About the film she noted that she feels fortunate to represent brown girls on screen, and appreciated that her mother in the film is blonde and looks a lot like her real mother.[14]

As a voice actor, Viswanathan plays Tawnie in season six of Bojack Horseman.[15]

Personal life[]

Viswanathan resides in Brooklyn, NY and is dating Miles Robbins, her co-star in Blockers and Susan Sarandon's son.[14][20]

Viswanathan was once a reader in casting rooms and was the reader for the Australian casting process for Crazy Rich Asians.[10]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year Title Role Notes
2016 Emo the Musical Jamali
All Out Dysfunktion! Vizzie
2018 Blockers Kayla Mannes
The Package Becky Abelar
2019 Hala Hala Masood
Bad Education Rachel Bhargava
2020 The Broken Hearts Gallery Lucy Gulliver
2021 7 Days[21] Rita
2022 Rumble Winnie McEvoy (voice) Completed

Television[]

Year Title Role Notes
2015 Lost Angels Sarah
2017 The Y2K Bug Addison
2017 Janet King Bonnie Mahesh Recurring role (series 3), 8 episodes
2018 Nippers of Dead Bird Bay
2019–present Miracle Workers Eliza (season 1)
Alexandra "Allie" Shitshoveler (season 2)
Prudence Aberdeen (season 3) 		Main cast
2019–2020 BoJack Horseman Tawnie (voice) Recurring role (season 6), 3 episodes

References[]

  1. ^ "John Legend; April Ryan; and Geraldine Viswanathan. Also: Jon Epcar sits-in with the 8G Band". Late Night with Seth Meyers. NBC. 26 February 2019. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Dacre Montgomery & Geraldine Viswanathan Teach You Australian Slang". Vanity Fair. YouTube. 5 August 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  3. ^ "Blockers Star Geraldine Viswanathan On The Crucial Scene That Nearly Didn't Happen". MTV.
  4. ^ Schwartz, Dana (5 April 2018). "'Blockers' star Geraldine Viswanathan learned how to act drunk from Anne Hathaway". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  5. ^ "Introducing Geraldine Viswanathan, Blockers' Breakout Star". Refinery29.
  6. ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (21 November 2019). "'Hala' Review: Girl, Disrupted". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  7. ^ Kroll, Justin (10 July 2018). "Hugh Jackman's 'Bad Education' Adds 'Blockers' Star Geraldine Viswanathan (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  8. ^ Coleman, Nancy (16 September 2020). "Geraldine Viswanathan on Karaoke and Lizzo Dance Breaks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  9. ^ N'Duka, Amanda (24 April 2017). "'Big Little Lies' Kathryn Newton, Gideon Adlon & Geraldine Viswanathan Make 'The Pact'". Deadline. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m ROCKMAN, LISA (6 July 2019). "Geraldine Viswanathan is making waves in Hollywood". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  11. ^ Jones, Isabel (22 April 2020). "Bad Education Transported Geraldine Viswanathan Back to the "Most Unflattering Fashion Period"". InStyle. Some people think I'm Malaysian and Swedish, but I'm Indian and Swiss and born in Australia.
  12. ^ Kannan, Indira (27 September 2019). "Crossover star: Hala actor Geraldine Viswanathan is making waves at TIFF". Business Standard India. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  13. ^ "Ashanti Omkar - Geraldine Viswanathan - BBC Sounds". BBC Asian Network. 10 January 2021.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i "Meet Geraldine Viswanathan, a Leading Lady With Perfect Comic Timing". W Magazine. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b c Guerrasio, Jason. "How Geraldine Viswanathan went from a scene stealer in 'Blockers' to rom-com queen in 'The Broken Hearts Gallery'". Insider. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  16. ^ "Jamali". Emo The Musical. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  17. ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (14 November 2017). "Geraldine Viswanathan, Jon Bass, Karan Soni Join TBS Comedy 'Miracle Workers'". Deadline.
  18. ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray; Ramos, Dino-Ray (14 November 2017). "Geraldine Viswanathan, Jon Bass, Karan Soni Join TBS Comedy 'Miracle Workers'". Deadline. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
  19. ^ "Breaking Big: Why you'll fall in love with 'Broken Hearts Gallery' star Geraldine Viswanathan". EW.com. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  20. ^ Nast, Condé (11 September 2020). "Geraldine Viswanathan Is Comedy's Newest Star. Prepare to Be Obsessed". Glamour. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  21. ^ ‘7 Days’: Film Review | Tribeca 2021

External links[]

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