‘Heroes Reborn’ Star Nazneen Contractor Joins CBS Drama ‘Ransom’

You may remember Nazneen Contractor as Kayla Hassan, the daughter of President Omar Hassan (Anil Kapoor) and Dalia Hassan (Necar Zadegan) from the eighth and final season of the Fox series “24,” where she played a tortured young woman with a secret life, or as Fahmida on NBC’s “The Carmichael Show,” or as Farah Nazan on NBC’s science fiction mini-series, “Heroes Reborn.”

The Indo-Canadian actress, who has effectively portrayed a variety of roles, was most recently seen in the backdoor pilot of the NBC legal drama, “Chicago Justice.” She was seen as Dawn Patel, an assistant district attorney in the episode, which was telecast in May to introduce the characters of the show. But according to the Hollywood Reporter, Contractor has exited the show to join Frank Spotnitz’s forthcoming CBS drama “Ransom,” which begins shooting its 13-episode first season this fall in Toronto and France. TV Guide reports that she will be playing a former cop in the show, which follows a hostage negotiator (Luke Roberts) who uses his knowledge of human behavior to find peaceful resolutions to tense situations.

The actress, who is of Gujarati-Parsi descent, was born in Mumbai and raised in Nigeria. She attended boarding school in London before her family relocated to Toronto where she attended the Etobicoke School of the Arts to train as an actress and a ballerina. Upon graduating, she accepted a full scholarship to the University of Toronto where she pursued a master’s degree in theater and a double major in psychology and sociology.

Her first professional theatrical job was playing the female lead in “Pericles” at the Stratford Festival. According to IMDb, she was the first woman of Indian descent to play a lead role in a Shakespearean piece on the main stage of the Stratford Festival in 51 years of the festival’s history.

She had a recurring role on CBS’ “Rules of Engagement” opposite David Spade and Adhir Kalyan. Other television credits for Contractor include “Lone Star” on Fox and “Last Resort” on ABC. Her big screen appearances include the thriller “Seance: The Summoning” and the sci-fi film, “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

Published on IndiaWest