Indian American Actress Sakina Jaffrey Joins Showtime’s ‘Billions’ in a Recurring Role
- She will be seen as Daevisha ‘Dave’ Mahar, “a dogged defense attorney at a white-shoe firm.”
Actress Sakina Jaffrey has joined Showtime’s “Billions” as a series regular, Deadline has reported. She plays Daevisha ‘Dave’ Mahar, “a dogged defense attorney at a white-shoe firm, who goes up against NYAG Chuck Rhoades on a case and sways him to draft her into his cause,” according to the report. She will appear opposite Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll, and Maggie Siff.
“In Season 6 of Billions, the dust of Season 5 clears to reveal a world that has evolved,” Deadline said it its synopsis. “With Axe (Damian Lewis) gone and Michael Prince (Stoll) assuming his place, Chuck (Giamatti) must develop a new strategy that is keener and more sophisticated than before. All the players, from Wags (David Costabile) to Wendy (Siff), from Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) to Sacker (Condola Rashad), and of course Senior (Jeffrey DeMunn), must sharpen their weapons and look for new alliances in order to survive.”
The series, which recently was renewed for Season 7, also features Asia Kate Dillon, Condola Rashad, Jeffrey DeMunn and Daniel Breaker. It was created and executive produced by showrunners Brian Koppelman and David Levien. Beth Schacter also serves as showrunner and executive producer. The series was also created by Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Jaffrey was seen in the first, second and sixth seasons of Netflix’s “House of Cards,” as White House Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez. She most recently appeared in “Snowpiercer,” “Little Voice” and “Defending Jacob.”
Born and raised in New York City, she is the youngest daughter of actress and food and travel writer Madhur Jaffrey, and actor Saeed Jaffrey. Her parents divorced when she was three years old, and she grew up estranged from her father, who subsequently moved to the United Kingdom. She graduated from Vassar College in 1984, with a major in Chinese Language and Literature at college, originally planning to be a translator before she became an actress.
She acted with her mother in the 1988 film “The Perfect Murder,” starring Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow. Three years later, in 1991, she worked with her father in the Canadian film “Masala,” written and directed by Sreenivas Krishna. In 2002, she was seen in “The Truth About Charlie,” starring Mark Wahlberg. She also starred as Malini Soni in “The Meyerowitz Stories,” a 2017 comedy-drama film directed by Noah Baumbach and co-starring Dustin Hoffman and Adam Sandler. Some of her television credits include Fox’s “Sleepy Hollow,” where she played Leena Reyes, the new sheriff, and NBC’s “Timeless,” as Homeland Security Agent Denise Christopher.
She lives in Nyack, New York with her husband, Francis Wilkinson, a journalist, and their two children, Cassius and Jamila, who have acted with her in “Raising Helen” (2004) and “The Ode” (2008).