Exotic actress Zuleikha Robinson was born on June 29, 1977, in London, England. Born of English, Scottish, Indian, Burmese, Iranian, and Malaysian descent, Robinson’s first name means "Beautiful One" in Persian. Raised in Thailand and Malaysia, Robinson later moved to England at age thirteen to attend a London boarding school, and then Los Angeles where she graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1999.
Robinson landed her first feature film role in 2000, appearing in Mike Figgis' Time Code, with Salma Hayek and Holly Hunter. The film was unique in being the first to be shot in one continuous take, which used four separate digital cameras recording each actor for ninety-three minutes.
In 2001, Robinson graced the small screen, playing Yves Adele Harlow in the X-Files spin-off, The Lone Gunmen. The series centered around the three conspiracy-theorist computer hacking geeks from The X-Files, and Robinson’s character’s name was a fittingly conspiratorial anagram for Lee Harvey Oswald.
Robinson returned to film the following year with the thriller Slash, also starring Lisa Marie Presley’s ex-husband, Danny Keogh. By 2004, Robinson had landed her first leading role, playing a nineteenth century Arabic princess named Jazira in Disney’s Hidalgo. Also starring Viggo Mortensen and Omar Sharif, the film told the true tale of long-distance horse rider, Frank T. Hopkins. Robinson was terrified by the prospect of saddling up on a horse for the film, as the result of a childhood horseback riding accident. Also in 2004, Robinson traveled to London, Venice, and Luxembourg to film a version of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, also starring Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, and Joseph Fiennes.
In 2006, Robinson starred in the film The Namesake, based on the best-selling novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Jhumpa Lahiri. Robinson’s next film, Vivaldi, is slated for release in 2008. A biopic of Antonio Vivaldi's early life, the film also stars Gérard Depardieu and Jacqueline Bisset.
On the subject of her craft, Robinson revealed to Ingenue magazine, "As an actor, you always want the next job. You don’t go on vacation because you’re worried that you’ll miss something. There was a point in which I realized this attitude wasn’t helping. So many actors are desperate and self-centered, and I didn’t want to be those things. I decided I wasn’t going to let this kill me, and that’s when I started getting work."
In 2007, Robinson returned to television with a role on the saga Rome. In her spare time, she enjoys painting and traveling.
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