Indian Ink Star Romola Garai on Loving Tracksuits, Hating Corsets & How to Pronounce Her Name

Age: 32

Hometown: London, England

Current Role: Flora Crewe, a young British poet traveling through India in 1930 who strikes up a spirited friendship with a local portrait painter, in Roundabout’s off-Broadway premiere of Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink.

Stage and Screen Cred: You’ve seen Garai [pronounced RO-mala Gur-EYE] on film (Atonement, Vanity Fair, Dirty Dancing 2) and TV (The Hour, Emma, The Crimson Petal and the White). Theater credits include the RSC’s King Lear and The Seagull, which made a tour stop at BAM.

“I was a terrible showoff as a child and when people would say, ‘You have such an unusual name,’ I’d feel very important. People pronounce it wrongly, but I never correct them because that’s a bore. My last name is actually pronounced with a rolling 'R,' but if you asked anyone to do that, they’d hate you forever.”

“My family and I were British expats [in Hong Kong and Singapore] for the first part of my life, and I think that helps me connect with this play. I can understand the romantic idea of living outside Britain, even though we were not in India.”

“I’m such a killjoy when people want to talk about costumes. I’m so over it! In my day-to-day life, I basically wear a tracksuit all the time. I feel so lucky that I don’t have to sleep in rollers and get up and wear a corset every day.”

“There’s a sweetness to this play that will surprise people who think of Tom Stoppard as someone who is mainly interested in ideas. It’s a moving play with fantastic female leads. I love playing a woman in that age who is committed to making art. She’s very brave.”

“I don’t really talk about my personal life. [Garai and her actor husband Sam Hoare have a one-year-old daughter, whose name they haven’t revealed.] I think it’s because I started [acting] young and found the attention overwhelming. I would never want my child to turn to me one day and say, ‘You didn’t give me my privacy.’”

“I never get recognized and that’s a great thing because I’m a very private person. Funnily enough, Americans are more willing to say, ‘Do I know you?’ Then you have to list the things you’ve been in and they say, ‘No, I didn’t see that.’ I guess I have one of those faces that can be made to look different.”