Krystal Garib
Encyclopedia
Krystal Kiran Garib is a Canadian-born actress, singer, dancer and producer of Punjabi
descent who has appeared in film, television, commercials, and theater. Krystal made her Broadway debut at the age of 19, making her to date the youngest East Indian woman, as well as one of the first, to perform on Broadway
.
social and political activist, Mehar Singh Garib, who founded the Khalsa English Highschool, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and Gurdwara
Sant Kutia in Kolkata
, India. Mehar Singh Garib was recognized for his close work and affiliation with Mother Theresa's Missionaries of Charity
in aiding Kolkata's poverty-stricken and destitute population. He was amongst the dignitaries interviewed by CNN
at her 1997 Indian state funeral in Kolkata.
, Canada where she began studying ballet at the age of 3, later picking up tap, jazz, hip hop and contemporary. She grew up competing in dance competitions and started teaching dance at the age of 15. She began singing in childhood and studied voice throughout her youth, which was initially intended to overcome a stutter. Krystal went on further to study Kathak
, a classical Indian form of dance, in Kolkata
, India. In her senior year of high school she became Miss Penticton and represented the city as an ambassador.
and A.R. Rahman production of Bombay Dreams
on Broadway
. The show played at the Broadway Theatre in New York City where she understudied and played the lead role of Priya. Television appearances with the show included Good Morning America
, Regis & Kelly and Macy
's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Krystal appeared on the cover of Dance Spirit Magazine as one of "Broadway's Young Stars" and headlined World Aids Day MAC
Fashion Cares in Toronto hosted by Pamela Anderson
and Macy's Passport in San Francisco and Los Angeles hosted by Sharon Stone
and Jennifer Lopez
. Almost playing the role of Jasmine in the Disney Theme Park production of Aladdin
in California
, Garib opted to join the original cast of The Lord of the Rings
musical which had its world premiere in Toronto where she was a swing (understudying all the female roles in the show) as well as playing the role of Éowyn
. The show played at the Princess of Wales Theatre and was produced by Kevin Wallace
and David Mirvish
, directed by Tony Award
-winning director Matthew Warchus
and composed by Academy Award and Grammy Award
winning composer A.R. Rahman, Finnish band Varttina
and Christopher Nightingale. Krystal also appeared as Desi-Doll in the off-Broadway
reading of Chinadoll Overdrive at the 45th Street Theatre in New York City, Yasmin in the Toronto CanStage reading of Catwalk and as Bianca in Shakespeare's Othello
.
s Oscar and Grammy Award Winning Composer AR Rahman's Jai Ho - The Journey Home World Tour which began in 2010, playing venues including the O2 & Wembley Arena in London, the FIFA World Cup Stadium in South Africa and major venues across the United States & Canada. She has appeared as a judge on the Sony
India Television dance reality show Boogie Woogie. As an actress, Krystal made her television debut guest starring on Showcase's "Rent A Goalie" and has appeared on CBC
's Rick Mercer Report and MTV
Live: Dancing with the Hosts. In 2009 she recorded a live concert for CBC/Darunam's album "The Last Angel on Earth" and Broadway's Greatest Gift: Carols for a Cure. Dancing for film credits include Hairspray
, The Love Guru
, and Repo! The Genetic Opera
.
Winning Actor Brent Carver
and Grammy Award
Winning Musician Jonathan Arons
. The event raised over $40, 000 in profits for the organization to aide in research and treatment for people suffering from speech disorders.
Punjabi people
The Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...
descent who has appeared in film, television, commercials, and theater. Krystal made her Broadway debut at the age of 19, making her to date the youngest East Indian woman, as well as one of the first, to perform on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
.
Family history
Krystal is the granddaughter of the late SikhSikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
social and political activist, Mehar Singh Garib, who founded the Khalsa English Highschool, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and Gurdwara
Gurdwara
A Gurdwara , meaning the Gateway to the Guru, is the place of worship for Sikhs, the followers of Sikhism. A Gurdwara can be identified from a distance by tall flagpoles bearing the Nishan Sahib ....
Sant Kutia in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, India. Mehar Singh Garib was recognized for his close work and affiliation with Mother Theresa's Missionaries of Charity
Missionaries of Charity
Missionaries of Charity is a Roman Catholic religious congregation established in 1950 by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, which consists of over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries...
in aiding Kolkata's poverty-stricken and destitute population. He was amongst the dignitaries interviewed by CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
at her 1997 Indian state funeral in Kolkata.
Early life and education
Born as Krystal Kiran Garib to Sikh-Punjabi parents, Garib was born and raised in Penticton, British ColumbiaBritish Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada where she began studying ballet at the age of 3, later picking up tap, jazz, hip hop and contemporary. She grew up competing in dance competitions and started teaching dance at the age of 15. She began singing in childhood and studied voice throughout her youth, which was initially intended to overcome a stutter. Krystal went on further to study Kathak
Kathak
Kathak is one of the eight forms of Indian classical dances, originated from Uttar Pradesh, India. This dance form traces its origins to the nomadic bards of ancient northern India, known as Kathaks, or storytellers...
, a classical Indian form of dance, in Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
, India. In her senior year of high school she became Miss Penticton and represented the city as an ambassador.
Broadway & theatre career
Upon graduation from Penticton Secondary School, Garib moved to Toronto to attend the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts. After attending an open-call audition in New York City six months into her studies, she left the academy to join the cast of the Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
and A.R. Rahman production of Bombay Dreams
Bombay Dreams
Bombay Dreams is a Bollywood-themed musical, with music by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Don Black and the book by Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan,and produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The London production opened in 2002 and ran for two years...
on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
. The show played at the Broadway Theatre in New York City where she understudied and played the lead role of Priya. Television appearances with the show included Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
, Regis & Kelly and Macy
Macy
-People:* Macy * Anne Sullivan Macy, teacher of Helen Keller* Bill Macy, actor* William H. Macy, actor* John B. Macy , U.S...
's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Krystal appeared on the cover of Dance Spirit Magazine as one of "Broadway's Young Stars" and headlined World Aids Day MAC
MAC
-Aviation:* Martin's Air Charter, now Martinair* Mean Aerodynamic Chord* Merchant aircraft carrier, used during World War II by Britain and the Netherlands.* Metropolitan Airports Commission, the operator of airports in the Minneapolis-St...
Fashion Cares in Toronto hosted by Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990...
and Macy's Passport in San Francisco and Los Angeles hosted by Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...
and Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
. Almost playing the role of Jasmine in the Disney Theme Park production of Aladdin
Aladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Garib opted to join the original cast of The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
musical which had its world premiere in Toronto where she was a swing (understudying all the female roles in the show) as well as playing the role of Éowyn
Éowyn
Éowyn is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, who appears in his most famous work, The Lord of the Rings. She is a noblewoman of Rohan who describes herself as a "shieldmaiden".-Literature:...
. The show played at the Princess of Wales Theatre and was produced by Kevin Wallace
Kevin Wallace
Kevin Gerard Wallace was in-house producer with Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group for eight years, where he was responsible for Celebration, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 50th Birthday Concert at the Royal Albert Hall starring Glenn Close, Antonio Banderas, Sarah Brightman and Elaine Paige, ...
and David Mirvish
David Mirvish
David Mirvish, CM, O.Ont is a Canadian art collector, art dealer, theatre producer and son of the late "Honest" Ed Mirvish, Toronto discount department store-owner and artist Anne Lazare Macklin....
, directed by Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
-winning director Matthew Warchus
Matthew Warchus
-Life:Warchus studied music and drama at Bristol University. He has directed for the National Youth Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Donmar Warehouse, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre, Opera North, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Welsh National Opera, English National Opera and in the West...
and composed by Academy Award and Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
winning composer A.R. Rahman, Finnish band Varttina
Värttinä
Värttinä is a Finnish folk music band which was started as a project by Sari and Mari Kaasinen back in 1983 in the village of Rääkkylä, in Karelia, the southeastern region of Finland. Many transformations have taken place in the band since then...
and Christopher Nightingale. Krystal also appeared as Desi-Doll in the off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
reading of Chinadoll Overdrive at the 45th Street Theatre in New York City, Yasmin in the Toronto CanStage reading of Catwalk and as Bianca in Shakespeare's Othello
Othello
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
.
Television, film, and singing career
Krystal is a lead vocalist and sole North American artist on Slumdog MillionaireSlumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...
s Oscar and Grammy Award Winning Composer AR Rahman's Jai Ho - The Journey Home World Tour which began in 2010, playing venues including the O2 & Wembley Arena in London, the FIFA World Cup Stadium in South Africa and major venues across the United States & Canada. She has appeared as a judge on the Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
India Television dance reality show Boogie Woogie. As an actress, Krystal made her television debut guest starring on Showcase's "Rent A Goalie" and has appeared on CBC
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
's Rick Mercer Report and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
Live: Dancing with the Hosts. In 2009 she recorded a live concert for CBC/Darunam's album "The Last Angel on Earth" and Broadway's Greatest Gift: Carols for a Cure. Dancing for film credits include Hairspray
Hairspray (2007 film)
Hairspray is a 2007 musical film produced by Kolaja Productions and distributed by New Line Cinema. It was released in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom on July 20, 2007. The film is an adaptation of the 2002 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was based on John...
, The Love Guru
The Love Guru
The Love Guru is a 2008 comedy film, directed by Marco Schnabel and starring Mike Myers and Jessica Alba along with Romany Malco and Justin Timberlake. In addition to starring in the film, Myers wrote The Love Guru with Graham Gordy and produced it with Gary Barber. The film was released by...
, and Repo! The Genetic Opera
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Repo! The Genetic Opera is a 2008 horror-rock opera musical film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. The film is based on a play written and composed by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich....
.
Charity work
In 2009, Garib launched her production company, the House of Kiran, producing events for Toronto's Speech and Stuttering Institute. The 2009 fundraising gala entitled "Speaking of Shakespeare..." played at the Eglinton Grand Theatre in Toronto and was headlined by Tony AwardTony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
Winning Actor Brent Carver
Brent Carver
Brent Carver is a Canadian actor.Carver is known for a variety of stage and film roles, including The Wars, Kronborg: 1582, Lilies, Larry's Party, Elizabeth Rex, Millennium, Shadow Dancing, and Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love...
and Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
Winning Musician Jonathan Arons
Jonathan Arons
Jonathan Arons is a New York City based freelance trombonist, actor, singer, and dancer who has made a number of appearances on television, most notably for his "trombone dance" in which he plays his trombone and then dances energetically .He had graduated from Oberlin Conservatory with a BM in...
. The event raised over $40, 000 in profits for the organization to aide in research and treatment for people suffering from speech disorders.