Zuleikha Robinson
After the cancellation of "The Lone Gunmen," she revived Yves Adele Harlow for an episode of "The X-Files" during the show's last season. She then landed her first leading feature role with "Hidalgo" (2004), playing the feisty daughter of the crusty, but affable Sheikh Riyadh (Omar Sharif), who falls for an American cowboy (Viggo Mortensen) who is trying to win a 3000-mile horse race across the Arabian desert. Robinson gave a standout performance as Jessica, rebellious daughter of Shylock (Al Pacino), in the rarely filmed adaptation of Shakespeare's problem play, "The Merchant of Venice" (2004). Back on the small screen, she began to firmly establish herself as an intriguing talent with a memorable role as the devious slave barmaid, Gaia, on HBO's breathtaking historical series, "Rome" (2005-07). In the underappreciated feature drama, "The Namesake" (2006), Robinson utilized her Indian ancestry to play the daughter of expatriates who meets a young Americanized man (Kal Penn) alienating his family by dating a white girl (Jacinda Barrett). Switching ethnicities again, she played homicide detective Eva Marquez opposite partner John Amsterdam (Nikolaj Coster Waldau), a man hundreds of years old and looking for the one woman who can end his immortality, in "New Amsterdam" (Fox, 2007-08).