Daisy Irani (television personality)

This article is about the Indian-Singaporean actress. For the Indian actress in Hindi films, see Daisy Irani (actress).

Daisy Irani Subaiah is a Singaporean television actress, director, and producer of Indian origin.

Daisy Irani
Born	Bombay, India
Citizenship	Singapore
Occupation(s)	Actress, director, producer
Years active	1992–present
Spouse	Subin Subaiah
Mother	Padmarani

Early life

She was born to Gujarati film actress Padmarani and stage director Namdar Irani in Bombay, India.^[1]

Career

Early career

Irani was an established actress in films and theatre in Gujarati, having acted in 18 Gujarati films, several television shows, and theatre performances with the Indian National Theatre.^[2]

After she moved to Singapore, she appeared in the role of Daisy Matthews in the popular Singapore TV series Under One Roof televised in 1995.^[3]

At Mediacorp, she was the executive producer for MediaCorp Studio's English Entertainment Productions Division. In 2007, she became the head of the Central Channel's Programming and Promotions, as well as their TV12 Creative Services Division.^[4] In 2008, the Central Channel became defunct after Kids Central and Arts Central were merged to form Okto, and Vasantham Central became a full-fledged channel as Vasantham, occupying the original Central channel.^[5][6]

HuM Theatre

In 2010, Irani founded HuM Theatre, a theatre company.^[7] In 2020, the theatre company gave Zee TV broadcasting rights to four of its plays.^[8]

In 2019, Irani produced a play, Being Mrs Gandhi, and acted as Kasturba Gandhi, the wife of Mahatma Gandhi, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth. The production came after Irani attended a talk by Gandhi's granddaughter, Ela Gandhi, about her grandmother in 2018.^[9][10]

In 2021, Irani starred in a short film #MakeThatCall, about bridging an increasing physical gap between young people and aging parents.^[11]

In 2023, Irani staged We Are Like This Only 3, with cast from HuM Theatre, with Irani calling it 'unintended trilogy'.^[12][7] The first two plays focused on tensions between Singaporean Indians and expatriate Indians, while the third play focused on tensions between new Singaporean citizens from India and the Chinese majority.^[12]

Personal life

She moved from Mumbai to Singapore^[1] in 1991 when her husband, Subin Subaiah, was posted there for work. In 2004, the couple received their Singapore citizenship.^[13]

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Ref
1995 – 2003	Under One Roof	Daisy Matthews	[3]
2006	ABC DJ		Executive Producer

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref
1996	Suite Hearts		Director, producer	[14]
2013	We Are Like This Only			[13]
2016	We Are Like This Only 2			[13]
2019	Being Mrs Ghandi	Kasturba Gandhi	Producer	[9][10]
2023	We Are Like This Only 3			[12]