Sakina Jaffrey Siblings: All About Meera Jaffrey and Zia Jaffrey

Sakina Jaffrey is an American actress born on February 14, 1962, in Manhattan, New York City.

The youngest daughter of Indian-born parents, actress and food writer Madhur Jaffrey and actor Saeed Jaffrey, she grew up in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan after her parents’ divorce when she was three years old.

Raised primarily by her mother, Sakina was estranged from her father, who relocated to the United Kingdom.

Initially, Sakina pursued a different path, graduating from Vassar College in 1984 with a degree in Chinese Language and Literature, intending to become a translator.

Siblings

Sakina has two elder sisters, Meera Jaffrey and Zia Jaffrey.

Meera, the eldest, influenced Sakina’s interest in Chinese culture, which shaped her academic pursuits at Vassar College.

Zia Jaffrey is a writer, best known for her book The Invisibles: A Tale of the Eunuchs of India (1996), which explores the lives of hijras in South Asia.

Career

Jaffrey’s acting career began at age 17 with her professional debut in Wallace Shawn’s play Marie and Bruce at the Public Theatre in New York City.

Her early film roles included working alongside her mother in The Perfect Murder (1988) and her father in Masala (1991), both of which connected her to her Indian heritage through Merchant-Ivory productions.

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Over the years, she built a robust filmography, appearing in films such as The Truth About Charlie (2002) with Mark Wahlberg, Raising Helen (2004), where her children Cassius and Jamila also appeared, and The Meyerowitz Stories (2017) with Dustin Hoffman and Adam Sandler.

Her television career gained prominence with roles like Linda Vasquez, the White House Chief of Staff, in Netflix’s House of Cards (2013), and Homeland Security Agent Denise Christopher in NBC’s Timeless (2016–2018).

Other notable TV roles include Sheriff Leena Reyes in Sleepy Hollow (2014) and Mrs. Headwood in Snowpiercer.

Jaffrey’s fluency in Hindi, Urdu, and Mandarin has allowed her to take on diverse roles, and her theater background, including performances while pregnant in plays like The Cherry Orchard and The Vagina Monologues, underscores her commitment to the craft.

In 2024, she joined the cast of CBS’s Ghosts as Champa, Jay’s mother, in a Christmas special, showcasing her comedic talents.

Accolades

In 2015, Jaffrey was part of the ensemble cast of House of Cards nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, reflecting her contribution to the critically acclaimed series.

Additionally, her role in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) led to a shared nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, alongside co-stars like Bill Murray.