India-born actor Sunita Mani on sharing the screen with Olivia Colman and why 2025 is her best year yet

Sunita Mani admits she’s easily starstruck. So, when the 38-year-old actor walked onto the set of The Roses, it was no surprise that she was overwhelmed. Directed by Jay Roach and boasting a star-studded cast including Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andy Samberg, Alison Janney, Ncuti Gatwa and more, Searchlight Pictures’ black comedy—based on the 1981 novel The War of the Roses—was without a doubt Mani’s dream gig. “I met Olivia, Ben and the whole production at this small dinner during my first week,” the Indian American actor recalls. “It was so surreal being on this side of the process after having consumed their work and been a fan for so long.”

Sunita Mani, Olivia Colman and Ncuti Gatwa in The Roses. Photo courtesy: ©Searchlight Pictures/Everett Collection

Mani appears in The Roses as Jane, a waitress (with perfect bangs) hired by Colman’s character, Ivy, at her newly-opened restaurant, We’ve Got Crabs!. Throughout the film, it becomes clear that she is not just Ivy’s employee but a close confidant as she spends several scenes glued to her boss and her onscreen colleague Jeffrey, played by Gatwa. “I’ve loved Ncuti so much on screen. I was really hoping we would click and we did,” Mani confesses earnestly. Despite it being a Sunday evening and her having a packed week ahead (“I have to get back to set straight from the film premiere”), the actor is radiant, enthusiastically remembering her time in London filming for The Roses, a little over a year ago. In the first week itself, she reveals, Colman, Gatwa and she ended up becoming a trio of sorts. “Just getting downtime with them while shooting helped me feel less nervous,” she reveals. “Olivia was so warm and fun, so British. We were having tea and scones together.”