Karen David

Karen David is the Canadian-Bristish actress who will portray Jasmine on ABC's Once Upon a Time.

Biography
David was born in Shillong, Meghalaya, India, of what she calls a "Chinese, Indian and a sliver of Jewish heritage". However, she was raised in Canada and then at age 17, David moved to London to study at the Guildford School of Acting.

Upon finishing drama school, David joined the original cast of the West End musical Mamma Mia!. She made her professional acting debut as part of the ensemble and as understudy of Ali and Lisa. A. R. Rahman, who had been invited to see the show by the director Shekhar Kapur, asked David to assist him and Don Black in the development of the material for the Bollywood-themed musical Bombay Dreams. She performed songs on the show's US and Canada tour, and continued collaborating with Rahman at his Panchathan Record Inn and AM Studios in Chennai, India.

She appeared in two short television videos, Dancers: The Trailer (2002), playing the role of Jenny, and The Paper Round (2002), playing the role of a policewoman. She then landed a role in the musical Bollywood Queen (2003), as a member of the R&B band at the story's center. Through 2004 and 2005, she played Scarlet in MTV's Top Buzzer.

David played Lyla, a main character in the London-based film Take 3 Girls (2006). Other work during this time includes Steven Seagal's Flight of Fury (2007), The Colour of Magic (2008), and The Legend of Dick and Dom (2009). David appeared as the female lead in The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008).

In September 2010, David played the Spanish teacher, Francesca "Cesca" Montoya, in series six of BBC One's drama, Waterloo Road. While Waterloo Road was still airing, David landed the role of legend hunter Alexia Alderton in Pixelface, a CBBC children's comedy series about six video game characters and what they do when they are not inside their games.

David appeared on American television with a guest role on the Fox series Touch in 2012, playing Kayla Graham. In February 2013, David appeared in the two-part episode "Target" of the ABC TV series Castle. David has reappeared on US televisions in the ABC television series Galavant, which premiered on 4 January 2015.

In mid-2013, David married Swedish songwriter and music producer Carl Ryden at La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes, California.