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Noël De Souza was raised in Secunderabad, now part of the southern Indian state of Telangana. As a young man, he aimed to become a writer, initially submitting articles to his local newspaper and later reviewing Indian films. In 1948, he moved to the U.S. to attend the University of California, Berkeley. While pursuing a degree in architecture, he was hired by the Indian magazine Cine Blitz to cover Hollywood, a role he later continued with the Times of India. Struggling to find work, he briefly returned to India to manage a paint company, but disliked the job and returned to the U.S. in 1955, determined to build a career in Hollywood.
He started in the entertainment industry by taking an acting course at the Pasadena Playhouse. After Sabu, he was one of only two Indian actors to achieve success in Hollywood at the time, making his screen debut as a Mexican in an episode of The Loretta Young Show (1953). Frequently typecast in exotic ethnic roles, he later remarked, "So I usually ended up playing Mexicans or Italians. Talk about diversity! I'd have to change my parentage for every role." Despite this, De Souza became well-known in the industry thanks to longstanding friendships with American producer Stanley Rubin and French director Serge Bourguignon, who introduced him to nearly every major actor, actress, and director in Hollywood. He played supporting roles of various ethnicities in several films and often portrayed clerks, porters, chauffeurs, officers, or doctors in popular TV shows such as The Outer Limits (1963), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), Mission: Impossible (1966), Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974), and Star Trek: Voyager (1995), where he appeared as a holodeck simulation of Mahatma Gandhi.
Besides acting, De Souza has worked as a freelance journalist and occasional interviewer of film industry personalities, including actors like George Clooney and Christian Bale. He was involved for several years with the Golden Globe Awards, maintaining ties with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and The Dick Clark Company, which jointly produce the prestigious event. In 2016, he received a nomination for an International Cinematographers Guild (ICG) Publicist Media Award.
