- Nicknames
- Meg
- Maddy
- Height5′ 1½″ (1.56 m)
- Mathangi Ray is a British Actress, based in London, UK. Born in Libya to parents Durga Ramakrishnan and Dr M.S. Ramakrishnan, Mathangi hails from an Indian family with a rich heritage in Performing arts. Her mother continues in her family's legacy as Indian Carnatic Vocalist and Veena player, based in Bristol, UK. Her Father, Dr. M.S. Ramakrishnan performed as a singer, guitarist, keyboard and tabla player when not practicing medicine. Mathangi has one younger brother, Hari Ramakrishnan, who is a writer, director and actor based in Bristol, UK.
With film and music always in her life, Mathangi started her formal training in music, dance and performance from the age of 5 with her first dance performance at the age of 7. At 16, she bagged her first lead role as Dorothy in her college's highlight musical 'The Whizz' in Bristol. Her next breakthrough came while she was at Oxford University, studying Physics, when she was approached directly to play the lead Alice in the Feature Film "The DiVincenzo Code", jointly created by Oxford University, The Oxford University Physics Department and the EU Commission. This role had a very significant impact in pushing Mathangi to want to be an actor after finishing her degree.
Since then, Mathangi has been working in Film, TV, Stage, Commercials and Voiceovers. Highlights of her work so far including working with Richard Naylor for his pilot 'Music Land World' where she played the female lead of Alice 'The Dream girl', meeting Gurinder Chadha while she was working on her musical 'Bend in Like Beckham' in London, and working with Academy Award winning director Oliver Stone in his feature film 'Snowden'.- IMDb Mini Biography By: (2016)
- She credits her parents as very important influences in her life for showing her, right from an early age how to uphold the meaning of traditions, appreciation and respect for art and people's talents and enjoying the best of life wherever you are with the people around you. Her parents, both born and brought up in India, moved to Libya after marriage. They then settled in England and Mathangi has had opportunities to live in Lincoln, Colchester, Bristol, Oxford and London.
- Mathangi sings Pop, Jazz, Soul and has recorded for a few collaboration albums and film soundtracks (Bhopal) and recently sang on Kamaal Khan's comeback hit "Bad Girl" releasing in India in September 2016. This song features on his comeback album.
- Mathangi's first dance influence was from old classic Indian Bollywood films her parents watched, with artists like Padmini, Vyjayanthimala to Madhuri Dixit (Mathangi's favorite). She has danced since she was 2 and is professionally trained in the styles of Bharatanatyam, Kathak, The Waltz, Quickstep, Cha-cha, Jive, Salsa and Hip Hop.
- Knows well and has worked with friend Shamini Bundell.
- Mathangi worked with her mother on a Tamil 'Happy birthday' song for her scene in Oliver Stone's 'Snowden'. Her mother composed the melody and wrote lyrics in the traditional Tamil language, and then working with Oliver, the entire cast in the scene was taught the song which appears in the final scene.
- In my time mentoring and coaching students applying for STEM subjects, I've found that Maths tops the list of most hated subjects. And Physics is the most feared. I'd like to change the way people view that!
- The first play I wrote, directed and acted in, was titled 'Ambrosia', where I played the Evil Witch. The hero was my brother, Hari who was working to thwart me with my nemesis, the angelic and beautiful female lead (who's name I forget) who was played by my neighbor. I was 10 - they were like 6 and 8. And this star-studded show was attended attended by my parents and neighbors!
- Kamaal has a great ear for the music in an artist and is able to direct and blend different styles. It was good for me in particular because I had both the Western and Hindi styles to my singing which he helped bring out in this song. Plus as a singer himself, he can also talk the language to bring out what he felt was possible. So, I think we worked really great together!
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content