Sakina Jaffrey

Biography

Sakina Jaffrey is an American actress. Jaffrey was born in New York City, the youngest daughter of Indian-born parents, actress and food and travel writer Madhur Jaffrey, and actor Saeed Jaffrey.

Jaffrey picked up her love of Chinese culture from her elder sister, Meera. She graduated from Vassar College in 1984, with a major in Chinese Language and Literature at the college, originally planning to be a translator before she became an actress.

She starred as Linda Vasquez, the White House Chief of Staff, in the Netflix series House of Cards (2013). In 2014, it was announced that she would be appearing in the second season of Fox’s television series Sleepy Hollow as Leena Reyes, the new sheriff.

From 2016 to 2018, she had a starring role in the NBC television series Timeless as Homeland Security Agent Denise Christopher.

She lives in Nyack, New York with her husband, Francis Wilkinson, a journalist, and their two children, Cassius and Jamila.