Esra did her first professional acting at the age of 16, when she appeared in the film I Dreamed of Africa (starring Kim Basinger), playing a character named Siri.
Other stage productions include the three-woman comedy Six Inches (2018) written and directed by Kristy Suttner, as well as the cabaret Homebound in 2004.
Esra made history in Bollywood with her portrayal of Stephanie in the film Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love by being one of the first Caucasian actresses in a lead role.
In 2005 she guest-starred alongside Eric Stoltz, playing his estranged and embittered ex-wife, in the Sci Fi Channel's miniseries The Triangle.
She appeared in Tim Greene's multiple South African Film & Television Award-winning newsroom drama Hard Copy, as the ambitious investigative journalist Kim Smollen.