Hot at 47, television host, model and writer, Padma Lakshmi says growth of Indian immigrants worldwide means desis have a better chance at getting cast in films and TV

At 47, Padma Lakshmi is no less than a Jack of all trades. The Indian-American cookbook writer and television host's culinary skills began to be honed when she was a toddler, who watched her grandmother whip up dishes in their ancestral home in what was then Madras.