Lolita Chakrabarti

Lolita Chakrabarti is an award winning playwright and actor based in the United Kingdom. Originally from Birmingham, born to Bengali Hindu parents, Chakrabarti started her career as an actress, appearing in numerous productions and films such as Fanny and Alexander (the Old Vic), Hamlet, The Casual Vacancy and Jekyll and Hyde amongst many others.

In 2018, she curated The Greatest Wealth at the Old Vic in London as well as adapted the 1972 novel Invisible Cities, which went on to play at the Manchester International Festival and the Brisbane Festival in 2019. Her play Red Velvet originally premiered in 2012 in London, before having a West End run and being produced over 25 times in the United States. More notably, Chakrabarti adapted the 2001 novel The Life of Pi, which continued on to a successful West End run before transferring to Broadway. This work won her an Olivier Award for Best New Play.