Malaysian-born Shiva Kalaiselvan was recently under the spotlight when she landed a role in Gotham’ TV Series- Lelia, Gotham Villain. She made her debut in the episode for The Dark Knight: One of My Three Soups which was aired on 29th March in United States and it took many of us by surprise.
Source: fox.com
To those who are not familiar about Gotham, it is an American crime drama television series based on DC Comics’ characters under the Batman franchise. The series focuses more on James Gordon who is a younger commissioner that attempts to deal with crime and also the journey of Bruce Wayne becoming the Dark Knight. It was premiered on Fox on 22nd September 2014 which became an instant HIT! In May 2017, Fox renewed the 4th season which first episode was premier on 21st September 2017.
Source: Star2.com
Shiva plays Lelia- one of the villain from Gotham. She is the leader of the female contingent of League of Shadows, a powerful group of assassins. In an interview, Shiva explained her role as Lelia, quoting “I’m the leader of the female contingent of the League of Shadows. Rules and loyalty are big for her. She is someone that holds true to the teachings of the League and stands by them no matter what”.
Shiva also said that it was a memorable experience for her as she had the chance to meet most of the cast either through working on scenes or during hair and makeup session. She even participated in some small fight scenes, during the 1st episode, she get to fire a semi-automatic rifle which is something that she couldn’t do it in real life.
Source: Twitter
Shiva was actually from a finance background before she found her way to where she is now with her role in Gotham. Shiva was exposed to art since she was young as her parents encourage her to take part in music, acting, singing, dancing and more. However, when it comes deciding a career path, just like most people, Shiva pursued a conventional degree- Finance, and started off working in banking industry. Despite of her love for math, the craziness of the banking industry has led her to leave her career as a banker for good in 2009, and she took this opportunity to travel around the world and did voluntary work for vulnerable children and adults and also disabilities. She reconciled her love of performing arts when she came back to Malaysia and was introduced to KLPAC.
Source: Production Pro
It’s not easy for Shiva to get a role in Gotham as it took her a year and a half of auditioning. She said: “Hard work and persistence will always pay off- even with all your inadequacies.”
Look how excited she was about her role in Gotham through Instagram:
Catch Shiva in Gotham every Friday at 9.50pm on Warner TV (Astro Ch 719 or unifi TV Ch 451).
Bonus: Shiva is going to appear in the final season of the series, The Originals which is going to premier on the 18th of April in the US. Don’t forget to watch to show your support!
