27/03/2008
Stunning movie actress and singer-songwriter Karen David is hotly tipped to be one of the biggest new stars of 2008. She will shortly be appearing in the lead role in the forthcoming multi-million dollar Hollywood blockbuster The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian. For the hotly tipped, action-packed movie which is out in spring 2008 she learned how to wield a sword for her performance as the feisty, but beautiful Layla.
Karen also stars in the soon to be screened adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic with Tim Curry, Sean Astin and David Jason, who told her that she reminded him of a young Catherine Zeta Jones. Previously Karen has also appeared in Batman Begins and she first garnered critical praise with her supporting role in hard-hitting, movie Provoked alongside Miranda Richardson and Robbie Coltrane and the Bollywood stars Aishwarya Rai and Naveen Andrews. As well as acting in Provoked, Karen was asked to write and perform the film’s powerful musical title track ‘Alive.’ Her performances brought her into contact with major players in the Indian film industry and since then she has single-mindedly set about recording an album that looks set to be one of the most interesting releases of 2008.
Karen’s music recently gained recognition when she was nominated in the Best Asian Female Artist and Best Newcomer categories of the UK Asian music awards and her forthcoming Live Sessions EP will be released in March 2008. It was recorded live - without a computer in sight. It captures the amazing sound of her live band and will give music lovers all over the world a taste of what is to come. The opening track 'Magic Carpet Ride' is a musical homage to 'Dum Maro Dum', a massive 80s Bollywood blockbuster of a hit. It includes the Inklein Quartet reworking of ‘Carry Me Home,’ plus 'All I Need' (co-written with Jonas Quant, a young writer discovered by Karen who has since gone on to score his first major cut on Kylie’s new album), and the flamenco-tinged 'Pink Glasses,' and 'Shillong Shillong' an autobiographical song about Karen’s Khasi roots and what it means to be a stranger in a foreign land. A studio version of 'Magic Carpet Ride' mixed by DJ Pathaan is being set up as the first single and will build Karen’s musical profile ahead of the release of her debut album Me Versus Me in Spring 2008.
But though it appears that music, acting and even sword fighting come so naturally to Karen, it has taken her years to become an overnight success and she has a truly fascinating background. Born in Shillong, at the foot of the Himalayas into a family who were members of the Khasi tribe in Meghalya there is surely no other rising star in the entire world with a more exotic background. Indeed this simple yet fascinating matriarchal society has given Karen a truly unique perspective on the world and her work. Subsequently raised in Toronto, Canada, Karen won a scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston to study jazz and gospel, where she discovered her flair for song writing. Then, she moved to London to study at The Guildford School of Acting and was soon spotted by Benny and Bjorn and invited to appear in the original cast of the hit musical Mamma Mia!
Film director, Shekhar Kapur, brought his friend, A.R. Rahman to see the show. Karen impressed Rahman and she soon found herself in the studio with him and Don Black as they began to develop what would become the show, Bombay Dreams. Then she toured North America with him performing at sell out shows in 50,000 seat arenas. On returning to London she landed a part in her first feature film, Jeremy Wooding’s well-kept secret Bollywood Queen, which featured the then unknown James McAvoy and Ian McShane. This was followed by MTV’s cult classic Top Buzzer written by Johnny Vaughan, allegedly the small screen’s first 'dope opera' which required Karen to learn to lap dance and smoke reefers (a committed non-smoker, she had to practise with herbal cigarettes in front of her mirror !). She has also paid her dues with roles at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, and in Tamasha Arts production of Strictly Dandia – and first gained a taste for action movies with a role in Steven Seagal’s most recent offering, Flight of Fury.
The multi-talented Miss David is destined to be one of this year’s hottest new things - and best of all - this stylish and sexy singer-songwriter and lead actress became a British citizen in November, so we can now claim her as one of our own!
David Jensen Photography:
https://www.davidjensen.co.uk/
