Living: The Little Girl With a Big Role
Samsara Leela Yett’s meaty role in Netflix’s 'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window' bodes well for South Asians and other minority ethnicities in the business of mainstream entertainment.
[Left] Samsara Leela Yett. (Photo: Kenneth Dolin)
Netflix’s 'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window' (Here on referred to as The Woman) is supposed to be a satire that parodies the genre of murder mysteries surrounding dysfunctional suburban white women. Despite a rich pool of talent, including writers, directors, and actors with stellar resumes, the mini-series has been panned by many critics as one which can’t seem to decide between being a spoof or a serious crime drama.
As foreshadowed by its long, kooky title, the series is full of implausible, over-the-top plot twists. For all the alleged flaws of the series, it is precisely these bizarre exaggerations that provide a palette for Samsara Leela Yett, who plays Emma, the eight year-old titular character (“the girl in the window”) to showcase her acting range: from sugar and sweet to a knife-wielding and gun-toting monster, the one who tackles and knocks down adults twice her size even without a knife or gun.
[Right] Samsara as Emma,“the girl in the window,” with co-stars Kristen Bell and Tom Riley.
While much of the series centres around Anna (Kristen Bell), a wine-guzzling nervous wreck whose daughter was murdered by a cannibalistic inmate, and her hunky neighbor, Neil (Tom Riley), a seemingly sketchy fellow, it is Samsara’s character that provides the story’s thunderbolt plot twist.
[Left] Samsara’s Emma is all sugar and sweet… or is she?
Born in Valhalla, NY, to an Indian-Tamil mom and U.S.-born-and-bred dad of Eastern European heritage, Samsara, a nine-year-old fourth grader, looks distinctly brown but also ethnically ambiguous. This makes her bagging of Emma’s role somewhat of a milestone breakthrough for South Asians and other ethnic minorities in America. While we saw Priyanka Chopra as Alex Parrish in Quantico, and more recently Maitreyi Ramakrishnan not just looking but also playing an Indian descent protagonist in Never Have I Ever, it is rare for a brown child actor to find a role that has a footing of its own.
An actor is born
On how Samsara’s journey as a child actor began, her mom, Amudha Rajendran, who manages her work, tells Khabar, “Even when Samsara was a toddler, people would say she is so attractive, she should model. We waited till she was three-and-a-half so that she was verbal enough to have an opinion and say if she liked something or not. She started modeling through New York Model Management. During that time, people on the sets also started commenting about how she made eye contact and could hold a conversation, and that she should try acting. So, we got a manager and began looking for commercials. However Samsara got only a handful of commercials. We knew that Samsara can look ethnically ambiguous. And while it can mean she can fit into many ethnicities, I guess, with commercials, people thought she was not relatable. I mean she doesn’t look like the kid next door!”
Samsara eventually got a break in acting in 2020, at age seven, with a modest role in a TV series called The Flight Attendant. Her exciting moment came when she got a cameo role in the much-talked-about 2021 movie Don’t Look Up starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Meryl Streep. Speaking about this experience, Samsara says, “Most of my scene was cut. But I’m so happy to be a tiny speck in an important movie. And I got to spend a day with Adam McKay [the director]!”
The dream role
The audition for the role of Emma in The Woman was an open call, which meant people of all ethnicities could apply. Rajendran feels, “It was an honor that they picked Samsara and went on to add other actors to compliment her ethnicity.” Emma, thus, has an Indian mom (Janina Gavankar) and aunt (Nitya Vidyasagar) in the show. “We got to know Janina, and she is a terrific role model for Samsara because she has played such a diverse array of characters and has such staying power.”
[Right] The rising star on the set of the show.
Rajendran says that while they knew the adult nature of the show, they also knew how consequential this role could be, not just for Samsara but also for millions of brown girls and children from various ethnicities. “How often do you find roles where kids get to shake the plot?” asks the proud mother. “Ever since the show got released, I have received an insane number of messages on Samsara’s Instagram from girls across cultures asking me how she got the role or how they can also hope for a spot in mainstream entertainment with their ethnic looks. I have had people writing to me from India, Europe, Syria, Morocco,” she adds.
Talking to Khabar from her home in Montclair, NJ, where she lives with her mom, dad, and a pet cat called Sunshine, Samsara says, “I was lucky to get this role. I was eight when I shot for The Woman. So, I could only work for eight hours a day according to child labor laws. It would have been easier for them to hire an older child. But they made it work with me.”
About whether it was easy playing a role with many shades, she says, “I know acting is not real life. When you act, you have someone else’s brain. Then you switch back. Emma uses people. You help her or she knocks you down. It was too much to play Emma, because she is full of secrets. I’m so happy and polite [in real life]. I have a good life. But it’s so much fun to play someone who is as awful as Emma.”
[Left] “Kristen Bell, who is an amazing mom and highly evolved human, actually acted as a buffer for Samsara as they went through the fight scenes.”
Playing Emma required doing underwater stunts and fight scenes. There was also a lot of adult content. Rajendran says that she explained to Samsara that the show has violence, sex, grief, adventure, pain—things that are not part of her life yet. Samsara has not seen the entire show.
About the violent scenes, Samsara says, “My mom kept explaining all the violence. But shooting scary scenes isn’t scary. Because the room is full of people and equipment. I was so proud to do my own stunt work, especially the underwater stuff!” Rajendran adds, “Sets are crowded with layers of people: a teacher, wellness officer, parent, writers, co-stars, director, executives, hair and makeup artists. The fight scene was something Samsara looked forward to. Three amazing stunt women choreographed the fight like a dance. Kristen Bell, who is an amazing mom and highly evolved human, actually acted as a buffer for Samsara as they went through the motions. Kristen carried Samsara around as they fought. The fight was hard work. You have to look aggressive, injured, you have to exaggerate impact—for each take.”
Culturally rich
Both of Samasara’s parents, Rajendran and David Yett, have taken care to instil an awareness of their roots in her. She says, “My mom was raised by Hindu and Christian relatives; my dad was raised Jewish. I love being mixed: I’m both, not half. I get so many holidays and cultural traditions. Many of my friends are mixed. And we talk about how interesting life is when you mash cultures together.” She adds, “My favorite is the food. I love pongal, dosa, idli, prawn masala. I love latkes, kugel, challah. Sometimes we have both kinds of food at once. Or my mom will make Jewish food with Indian flavors. Like latkes with turmeric! Or challah with cardamom!”
Samsara spent her seventh birthday at the Taj Mahal. Rajendran says, “She has traveled around India. She loves our village, Papi Setti Palli, near Chittoor in AP, where she has a pet goat named Peanut.” Samsara says she is looking forward to going to her village in India over summer and milking cows, eating coconuts and mangoes, and running around in her grandparents’ compound.
Elaborating further on Samsara’s cultural heritage, Rajendran explains, “Her main connection to her Indian roots is through food and fashion. We’re adding philosophy and spirituality to the mix. Her dad is good at keeping Jewish culture alive in our home.” Rajendran arrived in the U.S. when she was Samsara’s age but is still an Indian citizen. Yett was born and raised in Massachusetts, and has family all over the U.S.
When Samsara is not shooting or auditioning, she is very much a regular girl. “My life is normal. I have great friends. I go to school. I have playdates,” she says. “I like to be creative, so I study dance, music, swimming. I do well in school. Writing is my best subject. I love school, so I’m sorry when I miss it. I had to switch to online school during The Woman. But I came back. When they see my [acting] work, teachers and students say: Good job! Keep going! Then life gets back to normal.”
Just chilling. “My life is normal. I have great friends. I go to school. I have playdates,” she says.
Rajendran says, “I feel proud that Samsara is so grounded. She loves to act, she loves to make money but she is not invested in the result. She does not check the internet to see what’s written about the show. We are careful of her social media usage. Even her Instagram handle is monitored by us. We do not really talk about Samsara’s job. Even after The Woman, she was discovered accidentally by friends who would call and say they saw Samsara on the show! We are very normal about her job and we want to keep it that way.
Rajendran adds that the experience has been phenomenal for Samsara. “The whole cast was diverse, but you don’t focus on that because everyone is so talented. Casting diverse talent was very important to Kristen Bell.”
Samsara is currently enjoying her school and is also auditioning whenever she gets a call. “We have had a few role offers post the show but we are being careful in selecting. We don’t want her to be [playing dark roles all the time]. There is so much to her,” signs off Rajendran.
Zofeen Maqsood is a U.S. based journalist who writes extensively on millennial trends and expat issues. She has contributed for the some of the biggest publications and websites in India and in the U.S.
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