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Nitya-Telly
Sonia Manzano, Emilio Delgado, Nitya Vidyasagar

Sonia Manzano, Emilio Delgado, and Nitya Vidyasagar on the Sesame Street set.

Nitya Vidyasagar played Leela, a young Indian-American woman who ran the local laundromat on Sesame Street. She made her debut on the show in Season 39 and left the series after Season 45. She did make a comeback appearance in Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration.

Vidyasagar was born in Oman, moving to India when she was a year old, and to the United States when she was twelve. She speaks Hindi and Telugu as well as English.

The part of Leela wasn't originally written with an Indian-American actress in mind. "It was incidental," Vidyasagar says in an article in India West. "The casting notices said nothing of ethnicity." She became the first major Indian-American character on the American Sesame Street: "This is a big deal for me, and for the Indian-American community... and it shows that India has a growing place in the world profile."[1]

In April 2012, she appeared with other members of the human cast of Sesame Street at Jim Henson's Musical World at Carnegie Hall.

Sources[]

  1. "Meet Leela, Sesame Street’s Newest Cast Member". India West, Lisa Tsering. March 21, 2008.

See also[]

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