Top British Asian Actors
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Ben Kingsley was born Krishna Bhanji on December 31, 1943 in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England. His father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, was a Kenyan-born medical doctor, of Gujarati Indian descent, and his mother, Anna Lyna Mary (Goodman), was an English actress. Ben began to act in stage plays during the 1960s. He soon became a successful stage actor, and also began to have roles in films and television. His birth name was Krishna Bhanji, but he changed his name to "Ben Kingsley" soon after gaining fame as a stage actor, fearing that a foreign name could hamper his acting career.
Kingsley first earned international fame for his performance in the drama movie Gandhi (1982). His performance as Mohandas K. Gandhi earned him international fame. He won many awards - including an Academy Award for Best Actor. He also won Golden Globe, BAFTA and London Film Critics' Circle Awards. After acting in Gandhi (1982), Ben was recognized as one of the finest British actors.
After his international fame for appearing in Gandhi (1982), Kingsley appeared in many other famous movies. His success as an actor continued. His performance as Itzhak Stern in the drama movie Schindler's List (1993) earned him a BAFTA nomination for best supporting actor. Schindler's List (1993) won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. During the late 1990s, Kingsley acted in many successful movies. He played Sweeney Todd in the television movie The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1997), for which he was nominated for the Screen Actors' Guild Award. His other notable role was as Otto Frank in the television movie Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001), for which he won the Screen Actors' Guild Award.
In 2002, Kingsley was appointed Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's New Years Honours for his services to drama. In 2013, he received the BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment. That same year, he also received the Fellowship Award at the Asian Awards in London, England.- Born Naveen William Sidney Andrews in London on January 17, 1969. His parents were both Indian immigrants from Kerala, India. In high school, he auditioned for drama school and was accepted at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Two of his classmates were Ewan McGregor and David Thewlis. His studies paid off when he won a role in Hanif Kureshi's film, London Kills Me (1991). He is best known for his role as that 'Sikh bloke' in The English Patient (1996) and as Sayid in the popular television series Lost (2004). He splits his time between homes in Los Angeles and Hawaii, where Lost (2004) was filmed.
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Dev Patel was born in Harrow, London, to Anita, a caregiver, and Raj Patel, who works in IT. His parents, originally from Nairobi, Kenya, are both of Gujarati Indian descent. His first role was in the UK TV series Skins (2007). His breakout role was in the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire (2008). In May 2012, he played Sonny Kapoor in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011). In March 2015, he had a leading role in two major motion pictures released in the theaters at the same time: Chappie (2015) and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015).- Actress
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Parminder Nagra was born in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Bend It Like Beckham (2002), ER (1994) and The Blacklist (2013). She was previously married to James Stenson.- Actress
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Archie is an Emmy Award winning British actress best known for her role as Kalinda Sharma in The Good Wife, for which she was nominated for an Emmy three times in a row and went on to to be honored with a Golden Globe Nomination. She made her film debut in the critically acclaimed East Is East which won a Bafta for Best Film. She then went onto star in the Bafta and Golden Globe nominated international hit Bend It Like Beckham. She appeared in John Le Carre's The Constant Gardener, which was nominated for 10 Bafta's and won an Oscar and went on to work alongside Angelina Jolie in the gut wrenching A Mighty Heart. Archie then went on to star in 2 Bafta winning Netflix/BBC series; The Fall, opposite Gillian Anderson as well as Shetland. She recently starred on the American TV hit Blindspot and in the International blockbuster earthquake movie San Andreas opposite Dwayne Johnson. The New Year will see Archie lead the highly anticipated 6 part drama Next Of Kin on ITV.- Actor
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Sanjeev Bhaskar was born on 31 October 1963 in Ealing, London, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Yesterday (2019), The Kumars at No. 42 (2001) and Absolutely Anything (2015). He has been married to Meera Syal since 21 January 2005. They have one child.- Actress
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Meera Syal was born on 27 June 1961 in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Yesterday (2019), Beautiful Thing (1996) and Absolutely Anything (2015). She has been married to Sanjeev Bhaskar since 21 January 2005. They have one child. She was previously married to Chandra Shekhar Bhatia.- Actor
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Burt Kwouk was a British actor, who was best known for his role as Cato in the Pink Panther films, and for playing Mr Ling in the third James Bond film, Goldfinger.
Kwouk was born in Warrington, but was brought up in Shanghai. He made his film debut in the 1957 film Windom's Way. In Goldfinger (1964) he played Mr. Ling, a Chinese expert in nuclear fission; in the non-Eon spoof Casino Royale (1967) he played a general and in You Only Live Twice (1967) Kwouk played the part of a Japanese operative of Blofeld.
He also made appearances in many television programmes, including a portrayal of Imperial Japanese Army Major Yamauchi in the British drama series Tenko and as Entwistle in Last of the Summer Wine.
Kwouk died on 24 May 2016, at the age of 85.- Actor
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Jimi Mistry was born in 1973 in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for RocknRolla (2008), 2012 (2009) and Blood Diamond (2006). He has been married to Flavia Cacace since 28 December 2013. He was previously married to Meg Leonard.- Actor
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Nitin Ganatra was born on 21 February 1968 in Kenya. He is an actor and writer, known for Bride & Prejudice (2004), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) and EastEnders (1985). He has been married to Meera Thakrar since 17 July 2004. They have two children.- Actress
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Born in Chingford Essex United Kingdom, and not India as published, the actor is English of Parsi ancestry not an Indian citizen. She subsequently moved at age 9 . The family later returned to the UK where she completed her education.with her parents to Hong Kong while it was still under British control- Actress
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Shelley Conn is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Dean Indira Shetty in Amazon's No.1 show, Gen V (2023), as Beelzebub in Good Omens 2 (2023), and as Lady Mary Sharma in the hugely successful Netflix series, Bridgerton (2022). Other notable appearances include Isabella in the film Love Sarah (2020), and as Dr Elizabeth Shannon in the Steven Spielberg series Terra Nova (2011). Shelley Conn was born in Barnet in north London to Anglo-Indian parents. As the daughter of a British Army Officer, she moved home and countries many times as a child, living in Germany and Gibraltar before settling in Hampshire. She is of mixed heritage, which includes Indian, Portuguese, Burmese and English. After being a student at Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke, she trained at Bretton Hall College of Performing Arts and Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. She began her career on London stages and in small roles on British television. After appearing in independent films and two seasons at the RSC including All's Well That Ends Well (2003/2004) with Judi Dench she landed a breakthrough role as Ashika Chandirimani in the BBC political drama Party Animals (2007) which has led to a long and varied career in theatre film and television, both in the UK and the US. She lives in London.- Katie Leung began her career when she was cast as Cho Chang in the Warner Brothers feature film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, a role she subsequently reprised for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part II). Alongside her acting career, Katie has trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She made her professional theatre debut in the role of Er-Hong in Sacha Wares' production of Wild Swans which premiered in Boston before transferring to the Young Vic Theatre London in April 2012. She subsequently performed at the National Theatre as the lead role of Sunny in Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's play The World of Extreme Happiness. Katie has recently appeared at the Royal Court Theatre as the lead role in Mia Chung's play You For Me For You and in Tony Kushner's play The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures at the Hampstead Theatre, directed by Michael Boyd. Most recently she led the cast of Snow in Midsummer at the Royal Shakespeare Company. In October 2014, Katie was announced as one of BAFTA's Breakthrough Brits, a scheme established in 2013 to recognise and support young emerging British talent. On television she has starred as one of the series leads in Run, Channel 4's acclaimed drama following the lives of four people in South London. Her further television credits include ITV1's Poirot and BBC's Father Brown. Katie also starred as the central lead role of Mei in One Child, written by Guy Hibbert and directed by John Alexander, which broadcast on BBC2 in February 2016. She was recently seen in Martin Campbell's feature The Foreigner, alongside Pierce Brosnan and Jackie Chan and is currently filming the new ITV series White Dragon (2018) as one of the lead characters, Lau Chen. In 2022, she gave birth to her son Wolf.
- Kulvinder Ghir's diversity in the entertainment industry has seen him perform on TV, film and theatre. His transition into comedy wasn't easy. As a young man, worried how his parents would react to his passion, he would secretly go off to comedy clubs to perform. Conquering tough audiences gave him the confidence to then move into the wide world of radio, film and television.
One quarter of the highly successful 'Goodness Gracious Me' team, he has also starred in 'Casualty' and 'The Bill'. He can currently be seen the Casualty spin off series 'Holby City'. Kulvinder is most well know for his GGM character, 'Chunky Lafunga' a stereotype of a slimey Bollywood hunk, complete with hairy chest and medallion. Other characters include "Bhangra Man", "Dennis Cooper" and "Mr. Ishaq". - Actor
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Navin Chowdhry was born and raised in Bristol, England. He made his professional debut aged 15 in John Schlesinger's critically-acclaimed film Madame Sousatzka (1988), starring alongside Shirley MacLaine and Peggy Ashcroft.
Several films followed co-starring with actors such as Peter O'Toole and Nigel Hawthorne.
In 1994, Navin graduated with 2:1 from Imperial College London, where he completed a three-year biochemistry degree whilst still managing to work on several TV projects along the way.
Since then, he has played Kurt in Channel 4's cult comedy Teachers (2001) and Raph in Channel 4's drama NY-LON (2004). Other notable TV work includes Doctor Who (2005), The Golden Hour (2005), Sinchronicity (2006), A Touch of Cloth (2012), Doctor Foster: A Woman Scorned (2015), The Replacement (2017), The End of the F***ing World (2017) and Next of Kin (2018).
Navin has also written and produced a handful of projects including the award-winning short film This Bastard Business (2000) and a short play called Mashed which was performed at the Bristol Old Vic.- Actor
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A native of New Delhi, India, British character actor of theater and film Roshan Seth honed the skills he learned at London's Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in British repertory theater. His first break came in Peter Brook's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which toured in 1972. Seth entered feature films in Richard Lester's Juggernaut (1974), but because subsequent filmmakers only wanted Seth for ethnic roles, his career abruptly stalled. Discouraged, he abandoned acting and returned to India, where he worked as an editor and journalist until the early '80s, when Richard Attenborough asked Seth to play Pandit Nehru in Gandhi (1982). Shortly thereafter, Seth essayed Indian author Victor Mehta and toured the globe in playwright David Hare's biography A Map of the World. After the play's Broadway run, Seth's movie career took off, with roles in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and David Lean's A Passage to India (1984). Seth's subsequent film credits include Mississippi Masala (1992), Street Fighter (1994), The Journey (1997) and Such A Long Journey (1998).- Actor
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Togo Igawa is an actor/director living in England. In 1968 he joined the Theatre Centre 68 (precursor of the Black Tent Theatre), and went on to tour throughout Japan, performing in more than 120 cities. In 1983 he moved to England. In 1986, the opening season for the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon Avon, he became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company as its first Japanese actor. Since then he has appeared extensively on stage, film, television and radio worldwide.- Actor
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Riz Ahmed (born 1 December 1982), also known by his stage name Riz MC and birth name Rizwan Ahmed, is a British Pakistani actor, rapper, and activist. As an actor, he has won one Emmy Award, out of two Emmy nominations, and was also nominated for a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award, and three British Independent Film Awards.- Actor
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He was born in Pakistan, the youngest son of an eye surgeon who moved to London to join Moorfields Eye Hospital. Art determined early on that he was English and never learned to speak Urdu or Hindi. He studied at Guildhall Drama School and while there got a part as a Buddist monk in a Peter Hall directed film and acted at the Old Vic and the Royal Shakespeare Company. He shot to fame playing an English public school educated Indian in 'The Jewel in the Crown'. He married the actress Gina Rowe whom he met at drama school and they have two daughters, Jessica and Keira.- Actress
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Jessica Yu Li Henwick is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Nymeria Sand in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011), X-wing pilot Jessika Pava in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Colleen Wing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making her debut in the Netflix television series Iron Fist. Her film debut was St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold (2009). She was the first actress of East Asian descent to play the lead role in a British television series, the children's show Spirit Warriors.
Henwick was born and raised in Surrey, the daughter of Pearlyn Goh Kun Shan and Mark Henwick, author of the Bite Back series of novels. Her father, who was born in Zambia, is English, and her mother is Singaporean Chinese. She trained at Redroofs Theatre School and the National Youth Theatre. In June 2009, it was announced that Henwick had been cast in the lead role of Bo for the BBC show Spirit Warriors, making her the first actress of East Asian descent to play the lead role in a British television series. For the role, Henwick trained in wushu with martial arts choreographer Jude Poyer. The show was nominated for several awards, including the Broadcast Awards 2011. In early 2013, Henwick made her professional theatre debut in the international premiere of Running on the Cracks, based on the book by Julia Donaldson. Allan Radcliffe of The Times praised her "excellent" and "understated" performance, while the Guardian wrote, "with tremendous physical presence, Henwick captures the sense of adolescent righteousness, passion and confusion of a girl trying to create order in an unfair universe." Theatre critic Joyce McMillan wrote that Henwick was "outstanding as Leo".
Later that year she was cast as Jane Jeong Trenka in the drama Obsession: Dark Desires, which aired January 2014. The adaptation details Trenka's stalking in Minnesota, 1991, which she details in her book The Language of Blood. Henwick also joined the cast of Silk as new barrister pupil Amy. The series brought in an average of 5 million viewers per episode. She reprised her role for the spin-off radio series Silk: The Clerks' Room and later that year went on to play a young Oxford University student in Inspector Lewis. In 2015 Henwick joined the cast of the HBO series Game of Thrones in Season 5 as Nymeria Sand, with Oscar-nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes and Rosabell Laurenti Sellers playing her sisters. The process included six months of training to use a traditional bullwhip. She continued performing the role until Season 7.
Henwick played the X-wing pilot Jess Pava in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The character's full name is established as Jessika "Testor" Pava in the spin-off novel The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure, which establishes her as an admirer of Luke Skywalker. Despite her limited screen time, the character of Pava has become a fan favorite. Since the release of the film, Pava has appeared as a supporting character in the comic book series Star Wars: Poe Dameron. In 2017, Henwick appeared in the second season of drama series Fortitude, as well as Colleen Wing in the Netflix television series Iron Fist. Although critical reception of Iron Fist was generally negative, Henwick's performance in the series was well received. She reprises the role for the series The Defenders. At the end of 2017, Henwick was listed as one of Variety's Top Breakout Stars of 2017. In 2020, she co-starred in the Fox feature film Underwater.- Actor
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Raza Jaffrey was born on 28 May 1975 in Wallasey, Merseyside, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Homeland (2011), Code Black (2015) and The Rhythm Section (2020). He has been married to Lara Pulver since 27 December 2014. They have two children. He was previously married to Miranda Raison.- Actor
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Adeel was born in London on 18th September 1980 to a Pakistani father and a Kenyan mother and attended Cheltenham College throughout the 1990s. His father was keen for him to become a lawyer and he obtained a law degree but was more interested in acting and studied at the Actors' Studio in New York. He has made several stage appearances, including as Guildenstern in the Young Vic's 2011 production of 'Hamlet' but is best known for his television performances, being the first non-white actor to bag a BAFTA award as actor in a leading role for the single drama 'Murdered By My Father' and in 2018 will be seen as the villainous Thenardier opposite Olivia Colman and Dominic West in the BBC's serialization of 'Les Miserables'.- Actress
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Indira Anne Varma (born 27 September 1973) is a British actress. Her film debut and first major role was in Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love. She has gone on to appear in the television series The Canterbury Tales, Rome, Luther, Human Target, and Game of Thrones (as Ellaria Sand). In September 2016, she began starring in the ITV/Netflix series Paranoid, as DS Nina Suresh.
Varma was born in Bath, Somerset, the only child of an Indian father and a Swiss mother who was of part Genoese Italian descent; her parents were relatively elderly and were often mistaken for her grandparents. She was a member of Musical Youth Theatre Company and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, in 1995.
Varma has had a number of television and film roles, including Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love in 1997 and Bride and Prejudice in 2004, and the young Roman wife Niobe during the first season of BBC/HBO's historical drama series Rome. Her character appeared briefly in the second season of the award-winning series when it aired on 14 January 2007.
In 2006, she played Suzie Costello in the first and eighth episodes, "Everything Changes" and "They Keep Killing Suzie", of BBC Three's science-fiction drama series Torchwood. She appeared as Dr Adrienne Holland in the CBS medical drama 3 lbs which premiered on 14 November 2006 and was cancelled on 30 November 2006 due to poor ratings. Varma guest starred in the fourth-season premiere of hit US detective drama Bones as Scotland Yard Inspector Cate Pritchard. She also played the role of Zoe Luther in the first series of the BBC drama Luther.
Varma played the role of Ilsa Pucci in the second season of the Fox series Human Target until the show was cancelled on 10 May 2011.
Varma played the role of Ellaria Sand, the paramour of Oberyn Martell in season 4 of the HBO show Game of Thrones, and reprised the role in seasons 5, 6 and 7.
She lent her voice to the Circle mage Vivienne, in the 2014 role-playing video game Dragon Age: Inquisition.
In 2016, she played the lead role of DC Nina Suresh in the eight-episode British television drama Paranoid, streamed worldwide on Netflix.
In 1997, Varma played Bianca in Shakespeare's Othello at the National Theatre, London. In 2000 to 2001, she appeared in Harold Pinter and Di Trevis's NT stage adaptation of Pinter's The Proust Screenplay, Remembrance of Things Past, based on À la recherche du temps perdu, by Marcel Proust. In the summer of 2001, she played Gila in One for the Road, by Harold Pinter, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.
In 2002, she played Sasha Lebedieff in Ivanov by Anton Chekhov at the National Theatre and Bunty Mainwaring in The Vortex by Noël Coward at the Donmar Theatre, London. In 2004, she played Sabina in The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder at the Young Vic Theatre Theatre, London. In 2008, she played Nadia Baliye in The Vertical Hour by David Hare at the Royal Court Theatre London. In 2009, she played Olivia in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night with Donmar West End at Wyndham's Theatre, London. In 2012, she played Jessica in Terry Johnson's Hysteria at the Theatre Royal, Bath. In 2013 she played Miss Cutts in The Hothouse by Harold Pinter in the Trafalgar Transformed season at Trafalgar Studios.
In 2014, Varma played Tamora, Queen of the Goths, in Lucy Bailey's "gore-fest" production of Titus Andronicus at Shakespeare's Globe. In 2015, she appeared alongside Ralph Fiennes in George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman at the National Theatre.- Actor
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Ace Bhatti was born on 13 September 1969 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, UK. He is an actor and producer, known for Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007) and EastEnders (1985).- Actor
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Saeed Jaffrey was born in Maler Kotla, Punjab, India. He was born on the 8th of January 1929. He attended University of Allahabad where he completed his post-graduate degree in history. He also attended the Staff Training Institute of All India Radio. He started his career in drama, as the founder of his own English theatre company called the Unity Theatre, in New Delhi between 1951 and 1956. He also served with All India Radio as Radio Director during this period. He played a wide variety of roles in comedy and drama with equal ease and enthusiasm. His early theatrical work included roles in productions of Tennessee Williams, Fry, Priesty, Wilde, and Shakespeare. In 1956, he finished his studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, a premier school of drama. He went to the United States on a Fulbright scholarship and took a second post-graduate degree in drama from the Catholic University in America. With this experience as his base, he took his company on a tour of the United States doing Shakespearean plays in the year 1957. He was the first Indian Actor to have ever done so. He then became an active member of the Actors' Studio in New York. Here, he was noted for his acting in the play "Nights" and his role as the "Nawab" in Granada Television's adaptation of "The Jewel in the Crown". He married Madhur, actress and cookery writer, with whom he has had three children. He is now divorced from her.
In the 1960s he made numerous stage appearances and participated in a number of tours. He also started his U.S. television career in these years. He was the director of publicity and advertising for the Government of India in their Tourist Office in the U.S. from 1958 to 1960. His performance in the BBC classic _Gangsters (1975) (TV)_, as "Rafiq" earned him countrywide recognition in the United Kingdom. This was even though he had acted in Theatres and appeared on television previously in the U.K. During this period he acted in the off-Broadway play "A Tenth of an Inch Make The Difference" written and directed by Rolf Forsberg, who later cast Saeed Jaffrey and his wife Madhur in the noted short films, "Parable" in 1964, and "Stalked", starring Jack Hawkins, in 1968. Mr. Jaffrey began his feature film career acting in the movie The Guru (1969), and since then has made numerous film appearances along with Hollywood stars such as Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan etc. He has, since then, worked with directors of high caliber such as Satyajit Ray, James Ivory, David Lean and Richard Attenborough. He is a member of the Actors' Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. He is known over the world for his impeccable English accent, his dapper style and his catch phrase "My dear boy". They form part of an acting persona that audiences have always found enchanting. He uses his smooth charm to good effect whether he is playing the archetypal oily, corrupt businessman or the kindly, knowing, father like figure. He is the first Asian to have received British and Canadian Academy Award nominations for acting, and is the first ever to be awarded the Order of the British Empire for his services to drama.- Actor
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Benedict Wong is a British actor. He is known for his roles as Kublai Khan in Netflix's Marco Polo (2014-2016), Bruce Ng in The Martian (2015), and Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Doctor Strange (2016). Wong was born on 3 July 1971 in Eccles, Greater Manchester, the son of Hong Kong immigrant parents who had traveled through Ireland before settling in England. He was brought up in Eccles, and attended Salford City College (then called De La Salle Sixth Form College) in the surrounding area of Salford. He then took a two-year performing arts course at Salford City College.- Actor
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Born in Liverpool, one of eight children. David's father was a Chinese seaman from the Canton area of southern China, and his mother was from Liverpool. He trained at E15 Acting School, London in 1973 and since then worked in Film, Television, Theatre, Radio and other voice work both in the UK and internationally. David still visits and works there regularly, but lives with his wife in North Oxfordshire, UK.- Actor
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Ramon Tikaram was born on 16 May 1967 in Singapore. He is an actor, known for Jupiter Ascending (2015), Vampire Academy (2014) and Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996).- Actress
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Mina Anwar was born on 20 September 1969 in Church, Lancashire, England, UK. She is an actress and director, known for The Thin Blue Line (1995), House of Anubis (2011) and The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007).- Actor
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Adil Ray OBE is best known as the star and creator of the hit BBC1 sitcom Citizen Khan. After five series, the show has become one of Britain's much-loved sitcoms. In 2016 the show hit the road with a Citizen Khan tour and the publication of a book - Citizen Khan's Guide to Britain. Adil is developing a Citizen Khan film.
Adil has received four Royal Television Society Awards for Best Comedy Programme and Best Comedy Performance as well as Best TV Character at the Asian Media Awards.
Adil's talent for comedy was first aired on his daily BBC Asian Network Breakfast Show, where he created a number of characters. Comedy legends Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse were listening and asked Adil to join the performance team on BBC2's Bellamy's People.
In 2017, as well as writing new projects Adil ventured into drama acting and appeared as Sadiq Nawaz in Channel 4's groundbreaking drama Ackley Bridge. The show is in its second series, due to its popularity and successful ratings.
Television and radio presenting has remained a staple throughout Adil's career. Adil has presented across all the major BBC networks, winning the award for Best Radio Show at the Asian Music Awards and is best known for his work on BBC Radio 5Live. It was during the late night slot on 5Live that Adil skillfully exhibited his ability to shift from comedy performer to news broadcaster when breaking stories such as the UK summer riots, phone hacking and the night the UK went to war in Libya. Elsewhere Adil has enjoyed hosting a number of sports shows such as 'Radio 4's Test Match Special' and the legendary football phone in '606'.
In 2010 Adil presented the acclaimed BBC3 documentary Exposed: Groomed for Sex. Adil received praise for the way in which he tackled the controversial issue of young girls being groomed by some Pakistani men, creating a thought provoking and brave documentary and picking up a Royal Television Society Award for Best Current Affairs.
Adil's earlier BBC3 outing "Is It Coz I Is Black?" exploring political correctness was also RTS nominated whilst on the BBC2 show Explore, Adil visited Argentina and Turkey. Adil also hosted the BBC2 arts show Desi DNA and presented Tales from Europe for BBC4.
Adil has co-presented BBC flagship entertainment show 'The One Show' and 'Have I Got News For You'. He has appeared on 'Room 101', 'Would I Lie To You?' and 'Pointless' and holds the record for fastest ever lock in (twice) in The Crystal Maze. In 2016 Adil was honoured in the Queens Birthday List and awarded Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for services to Media and Broadcasting.
Adil is also a patron and supporter of three charities Acorn's Hospice, Parkinson's UK and Karma Nirvana.- Pik-Sen Lim was born to Chinese parents in Penang, Malaysia. She came to London at the age of sixteen to learn drama. Her big break came in 1964 when she appeared in the long-running hospital drama series Emergency-Ward 10 (1957) where she was cast as the first Chinese nurse on British television. One of the series writers was Don Houghton, who also originated Take the High Road (1980), who became her husband until his death in 1991. Their daughter, Sara Houghton, is also an actress and they appeared on stage together in 2005 as mother and daughter in the play 'Three Thousand Troubled Threads.' Pik-Sen's best known television role is probably as the vehement Chinese communist in the comedy series Mind Your Language (1977). She also appeared in Doctor Who (1963) in an episode written by her husband and in the 2000s says she is being recognized all over again for her role in the TV sketch show Little Britain (2003)
- Harish Patel was born on 5 July 1953 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. He is an actor, known for Run Fatboy Run (2007), Eternals (2021) and Andaz Apna Apna (1994).
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Shobu Kapoor was born and grew up in India. She moved to the UK in 1988 and started her professional career. After training at Drama Studio London, she performed in many theatre productions over the course of a few years. Her first TV appearance was 'Family Pride' for Channel 4, where her initial guest role turned into a series regular due to the popularity, energy, and skill she had shown with her performance.
Shobu's next TV job was 'Eastenders', where she played the highly popular series regular character 'Gita Kapoor'. The character of Gita established Shobu as a household name in the UK and abroad. After leaving Eastenders, her next big show was 'Citizen Khan', where she played the leading role of 'Mrs Khan'. After many years working on multiple high-profile TV and film projects, her latest outing is the role of 'Seema' in the highly anticipated Channel 4 show 'We Are Lady Parts'.
In a career spanning over three decades, Shobu has played a range of characters across theatre, television, film, and radio. She has a memorable voice and has done a variety of voiceover work.- Laila Rouass was born in London to Moroccan/Indian parents. Laila studied in Britain but decided to drop her studies and travel in India for a few months. A few months turned into six years. Whilst living in Bombay, she worked for MTV, BBC, and TNT. Her step into movies came when she was spotted by Italian director Aditya Bhattacharya and whisked off to Messina to shoot Senso unico (1999).
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After her debut film Mississippi Masala (1991) became an art house hit, Sarita Choudhury was determined not to "go Hollywood," focusing her acting energies on independent film instead.
Raised in Jamaica, Mexico, and Italy, the half-Indian, half-English Choudhury studied economics at Queens University in Ontario before switching to acting. She casually auditioned for Mississippi Masala (1991) and wound up cast as the lead opposite Denzel Washington in the singular interracial romance between a Southern African American man and a transplanted Indian woman. Despite the film's surprise success, Choudhury stuck to her non-Hollywood roots, putting her exotic looks and talent to versatile use as a Pakistani country-western singer in Wild West (1992), a Chilean maid who is raped in Bille August's adaptation of The House of the Spirits (1993), and a lesbian mother in Fresh Kill (1994).
Choudhury worked with Mississippi Masala (1991) director Mira Nair again in The Perez Family (1995) and played the cuckolded queen Tara in Nair's frankly-sensual feminist parable Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996).
By the late 1990s, Choudhury added a touch of Hollywood to her repertoire with supporting roles in the glossy Alfred Hitchcock remake, A Perfect Murder (1998) and the John Cassavetes retread Gloria (1999).- Actor
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Ric Young was born in June 1944 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is an actor and writer, known for Seven Years in Tibet (1997), The Transporter (2002) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).- Paul Bhattacharjee was born on 4 May 1960 in Harrow, Middlesex, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Casino Royale (2006), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and Dirty Pretty Things (2002). He died on 12 July 2013 in Splash Point Cliffs, Seaford, East Sussex, England, UK.
- Tom Wu was born on 15 May 1972 in Hong Kong, China. He is an actor, known for Marco Polo: One Hundred Eyes (2015), The Gentlemen (2019) and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019).
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Gemma Chan (born 29 November 1982) is a British film, television, and theatre actress and former fashion model. She played Charlotte in season four of the Showtime and ITV2 series Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007); Ruth in Channel 4's Fresh Meat (2011); Mia Bennett in The Waters of Mars (2009), and Soo Lin in The Blind Banker (2010). She also appeared in the feature films Exam (2009) and Paramount Pictures' action-thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014). Chan made a film for Amnesty International to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Chan was born at Guy's Hospital in London, England. Her father grew up in Hong Kong and was an engineer. Her mother, a pharmacist at Guy's Hospital, emigrated from pre-Cultural Revolution Communist China via Hong Kong with her parents (Chan's maternal grandparents) and younger sister, growing up in Greenock, Scotland. Chan was raised near Sevenoaks, Kent, and attended Newstead Wood School for Girls in Orpington, Bromley, London. She later went on to read law at Worcester College, Oxford.
Following graduation, Chan gained a training contract offer as a graduate at the law firm Slaughter and May, but instead pursued an acting career and studied at the Drama Centre London. Spotted at her showcase by British film producer Damian Jones, she signed to acting agent Nicki van Gelder. In 2006, Chan was one of the models in series one of Project Catwalk, the UK version of Project Runway. She has been photographed by Rankin for a campaign for Nivea Visage, having previously worked as a model in order to fund her studies and drama school training.
Chan played geologist Mia Bennett in The Waters of Mars (2009), starring David Tennant and Lindsay Duncan, which aired 15 November 2009 in the UK. She was cast as a series regular in Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2007), the fourth and final series airing on ITV2 in the UK and Showtime in the US in 2011. She also appeared in Sherlock (2010), and the fourth series of The IT Crowd (2006) for Channel 4.
In 2012, Chan was a regular in series two of Sky Living's supernatural drama Bedlam (2011) and in True Love (2012), a five-part semi-improvised television series produced by Working Title for the BBC One. In 2013, she starred in new BBC One crime drama Shetland (2013), alongside Douglas Henshall and Steven Robertson, and guest starred in the BBC's Death in Paradise (2011). She was a cast-member of Channel 4 romantic drama, Dates (2013).
Chan played the synthetic Anita/Mia in the AMC/Channel 4 eight-part science-fiction drama Humans (2015). Filming commenced in autumn 2014 with a June 2015 premiere. The second series premiered on 30 October. For her portrayal, she was nominated for numerous awards. In July 2016, Chan provided the voice "Dewdrop" in BBC One's animated television series Watership Down (2018). She appeared in the World War II drama film Shanghai (2010) and the comedy-drama Submarine (2010). Chan starred in Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Families (2015).
She made her professional stage debut in the British Premiere of Bertolt Brecht's last play, Turandot, at the Hampstead Theatre, London, directed by Anthony Clark. In November 2012, she performed in The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie, a new play by Anders Lustgarten at the Finborough Theatre. In June 2013, she performed in the UK premiere of Yellow Face by American playwright David Henry Hwang at The Park Theatre, London, directed by Alex Sims. It was revived in 2014 at the Royal National Theatre with the original London cast returning. In November 2013, Chan performed in the world premiere of Our Ajax by Timberlake Wertenbaker at the Southwark Playhouse, London. Wertenbaker chose her to play the war goddess Athena after she saw her performance in Yellow Face.- Actor
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BAFTA Breakthrough Brit Ray Panthaki was born in London, England. He is an Actor, Producer, Writer & Director known for Boiling Point (2022) Away (2020) Colette (2018) Official Secrets (2019) Convenience (2015) 28 Days Later... (2002) Ali G Indahouse (2002) Kidulthood (2006). In 2021 he was nominated for 'Best Supporting Actor' at the British Independent Film Awards for his role in Boiling Point. In 2013 he made his Royal Shakespeare Company debut in 'The Empress' directed by Emma Rice. His hard-hitting short Film Life Sentence (2013) which he wrote, produced & directed won EEFF and was long listed for a BAFTA the same year.- Born in Nottingham, England, Arsher Avesta Ali hails from a South Asian background. His father was a welder at the world-famous Raleigh Bike factory in Nottingham and the family ran a chauffeur business.
After finishing secondary school, he decided to become a sports journalist but needed an extra subject to fill out his college timetable. He added Drama to his list of subjects, due to having so many friends in that class.
After receiving encouragement from his drama teacher over the course, Arsher decided to drop all other subjects to focus singularly on Drama and apply to only one drama school after getting a taste for method acting, East 15.
Arsher left Nottingham for London, amid a mixed reaction from his family - determined to make his new path a success and become the first member of his family to work in the arts.
Upon leaving East 15, he signed with Ruth Young at what was then PFD (now United Agents) and was named as one of Screen Internationals 'Stars of Tomorrow'.
He continues to showcase his considerable versatility across TV and Theatre and remains extremely selective in the work he commits to. - Actor
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Born in Epsom, Surrey, Ameet Chana has lived in various places during his life, including Reading, Berks, Cheam in Surrey, Croydon, and has lived in Harrow, Middlesex for the past 15 years with his parents and sister. He attended Gayton High school before moving on to Elm Park College where he completed a BTEC in National Performing Arts. From a very young age, he was re-enacting Amitabh Bachchan scenes or singing and dancing like Michael Jackson around the house. His parents realised his destiny and enrolled him into a Sunday acting workshop at the London Academy of Acting when he was 13. After this, he procured an agent, and started work in television. He then went on to perform in many plays and worked extensively in theatre and low budget films. His first film was for an educational programme with the London Docklands Development Corporation at age 14. He has also starred in a feature film that was shown on Film Four called Wild West (1992). Ameet then went on to act in hit comedy show League of Gentlemen and cinema hit Bend It Like Beckham (2002). He is currently a member of an Asian family on the popular soap, EastEnders (1985).- Ajay Chhabra was born on 28 November 1970 in Greenwich, London, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Tom & Jerry (2021), Bellbottom (2021) and Lucky Man (2016).
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Christina Chong is an international television and film actress who stars in the CBS series "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" as series regular 'La'an Noonien-Singh,' alongside Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn. The series expanded on the iconic franchise, with six new crew members on the USS Enterprise, alongside its familiar trio of lead characters. The series returns for its second season in June and has already been picked up for a third season. Alongside acting, Christina is now following her musical passion with a debut EP titled "Twin Flames" releasing in August.
For Christina, the focus on equality and diversity in the Star Trek franchise leads back to her own personal journey in Hollywood. Christina is the proud daughter of a Chinese father who immigrated to the UK from Hong Kong and English mother. Her tireless work ethic stems from watching her father working low wage jobs in restaurants, often jobs only immigrants would be willing to take on, and her mother staying at home raising six children. She credits her ability to succeed in the arts to her mother, when despite living in government housing and raising her family on welfare, always managed to support Christina's dreams.
She began in the performing arts at three years old with dance and attended Italia Conti (the UK equivalent to world famous Juilliard) for high school. It was there she cultivated her musical theater and acting skills staring as 'Anita' in West Side Story in her graduation show, before moving to Germany to star in the European premier of the musical Aida, written by Elton John and Tim Rice. To further her career, she moved to New York to study at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. Soon after, she returned to London to pursue her acting career full time.
Her career has seen no bounds to what she can achieve. On the television side she can be seen in hit series such as Netflix's "Black Mirror," BBC America's "Doctor Who," Fox's "24: Live Another Day," "Halo: Nightfall" with Mike Colter, British crime drama "Line of Duty," and ITV's "Grace."
On the film side, she stars in Blockbuster hits such as Universal Pictures' "Johnny English Reborn," Warner Bros.' "Tom & Jerry: The Movie," which was nominated for 'The Family Movie of 2021' award at the People's Choice Awards, "Christmas Eve" with Cheryl Hines and Patrick Stewart, award winning independent feature "W.E." with Oscar Isaac, and "Legacy" with Idris Elba.
Christina's lifelong passion to release original music has emerged in the form of her debut EP titled Twin Flames (August 2023). Comprised of four original songs: "Twin Flames," "No Blame," "Can't Show Love," and "I Get to Choose," listeners are taken on a journey of passion, pain, healing, and self-love during and after a "twin flame" relationship; from meeting to breaking-up to the understanding of what happened, and ultimately finding happiness alone. For the production, Christina worked with Jake Gosling (Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes, Shania Twain), NUUXS (Major Lazer, Diplo), and Matt Brettle (Cat Burns, Ardee) through record label Goldun Egg.
Christina has spent the last decade and half, rediscovering who she is in Hollywood both personally and professionally, working with life coach Michael James. She hopes to share her story of dealing with rejection, personal development, and overcoming adversity with the world. Aside from being in front of the camera, she is writing and producing, drawing from personal experiences to create content that gives hope and inspires.- Shobna Gulati is a British actress, writer, and dancer. Gulati is a soap star best known for playing Anita in Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies and Sunita Alahan in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street from 2001 to 2006, a role to which she returned at the end of 2009 and departed again in 2013. From 13 March 2013 to 30 May 2014, Gulati appeared as a panellist on the lunchtime chat-show Loose Women.
Gulati is also one of very few actors to have appeared in both Coronation Street and its rival series EastEnders (in 2000).
Gulati was born in Oldham, Lancashire to parents of Hindu Indian descent. She has a degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern politics from the University of Manchester.
One of Gulati's earliest appearances was as a dancer in the video for Boy George's 1991 single "Bow Down Mister." In the late 1990s, she received excellent reviews for her work in Victoria Wood's BBC sitcom Dinnerladies as a main character, this finished in 2000 after two years and she appeared in both series. She appeared as Ameena Badawi from October to December 2000, in EastEnders she is one of few to have appeared in both rival-soaps EastEnders and Coronation Street, also Gulati appeared in the crossover between both soap's (East Street) in 2010 as her main character, Sunita. In 2001, she appeared in the short film Shadowscan, directed by Tinge Krishnan, which won a Bafta Award; and, in 2004, Gulati was nominated for a Manchester Evening News theatre award for her work in the play Dancing Within Walls, which was staged at the Contact Theatre in Manchester.
Gulati has also appeared on the TV quiz shows Call My Bluff, Have I Got News for You, The Weakest Link, Russian Roulette and as Diana Ross in Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes. In early 2006, Gulati took part in the Reality TV series Soapstar Superstar.
After Gulati left Coronation Street initially in 2006, she played Nisha Clayton, a recurring role in the final series of Where the Heart Is and made appearances in New Street Law and the one-off comedy drama Magnolia which was written by Dave Spikey for BBC's Comedy Playhouse series.
In October 2006, Gulati appeared at the Royal Albert Hall as part of a short skit featured in The Secret Policeman's Ball. In the sketch, Gulati and co-star Nitin Ganatra play a holidaying couple who are under the mistaken belief Guantanamo Bay is a holiday resort. The sketch also starred American actors Chevy Chase and Seth Green.
Gulati has recently been seen as one of many storytellers in the CBBC revival of Jackanory and in the UK tour of the hit play Girls Night by Louise Roche. She also appeared on the Channel 4 special Empire's Children, tracing her family's history during the partition of India. In summer 2007, she appeared in Pretend You Have Big Buildings at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.
In 2008, Gulati made her debut as a filmmaker, producing the short film Akshay for the Motiroti's 60x60 Secs.
During this same period, the actress returned to her Coronation Street role as Sunita Alahan, where she stayed for three years.
On 11 June 2009, Gulati appeared in the BBC1 programme Celebrity MasterChef. She did the first stage tour of Dinnerladies in early 2009 and she has appeared as a guest story teller for Bedtime Stories (CBBC). In November 2010, Gulati was a guest panellist on ITVs flagship show Loose Women, to celebrate fifty years of Coronation Street and in April 2012, to celebrate soap week and in June 2011, Gulati was a guest on Countdown. Upon announcing her departure from Coronation Street, the actress expressed her desire to write and perform more comedy than her soap-opera career permitted her time to do. In 2016, she appeared in the ITV/Netflix series Paranoid. Gulati also made a guest appearance on Casualty on 29th October 2016.
Gulati married the architect Anshu Srivastava in a Hindu ceremony on 10 November 1990 but the couple divorced in May 1994. - Actress
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Naoko was born in Nagoya, Japan and moved to New York with her parents when she was four before returning to Japan, then relocating to London when she was 12. She began to take singing lessons, and at 17 she was cast in the lead role of Kim in the West End musical "Miss Saigon" opposite John Barrowman, with whom she would later appear in the TV science-fiction series "Torchwood." She has appeared on television as Julia Sawalha's studious friend Sarah in "Absolutely Fabulous", the hospital reception in "Casualty", and Yoko Ono in "Lennon Naked." In 2006 she returned to the London musical stage to play Christmas Eve in "Avenue Q," and in 2015 she was part of the huge ensemble cast in the big-screen "Everest" as ill-fated mountaineer Yasuko Namba.- Actress
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Anjali Jay is an actor and writer. She was also a dancer and choreographer, having trained in Indian classical dance and modern, contemporary styles. She is Indian, British and Canadian.
Anjali has had an extensive theatre career, having performed amongst others, with The Royal Shakespeare Company, where she was cast as Jamila in Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children", and with The Birmingham Rep, where she played Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet".
She started her film career playing opposite Chris Pine in "Blind Dating", after which she played "Djaq" in BBC's "Robin Hood" series. She then went on to play a series of roles in TV and film. She lives in the Vancouver area where she continues to act and write.- Ayesha Dharker was born in 1977 in Bombay, India. She is an actress, known for Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), The Father (2020) and Outsourced (2006).
- Bhasker Patel was born on 7 February 1956 in Kampala, Uganda. He is an actor, known for Thunderbirds (2004), Anuvahood (2011) and Snowden (2016).
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Preeya Kalidas is an Actor and Singer.
Preeya originated the leading role of Priya in AR Rahman's/Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Bombay Dreams in London's West End. She has played leading roles in a number of musicals in London's West End including The Narrator in the revival of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at The Adelphi Theatre, The Original London production of School of Rock, Everybody's Talking about Jamie, originated the role of Pinky in Bend it like Beckham the Musical of which she was nominated for a prestigious Olivier Award.
Also leading roles in plays, Margo in Jeremy Sam's ,The Good Life based on the iconic TV series, Chiaroscuro at Bush Theatre, Levi Addai 's Oxford Street, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti's Khandan at London's prestigious Birmingham Rep/Royal Court Theatre and most recently opposite Juliette Stevenson in Robert Icke's The Doctor at Duke of York Theatre London & New York.
Preeya has starred in Award winning feature films including Four Lions alongside Riz Ahmed , International hit film Bend it like Beckham , Milady in The Three Musketeers and short films C4 Jump Boy, Tanika Gupta's The Fiancee, Sari and Trainers , Paso Doble alongside Aiden Turner and most recently One Punch written and directed by Emmy nominated director Huse Monfaradi.
Television credits include BBC's Eastenders as a series regular, Carmen in BAFTA nominated BBC Three Bollywood Carmen, Peter Kosminsky's BAFTA award winning C4 drama Britz , series regular in BBC's Mistresses and Jed Mercurio's BBC Series - Bodies. Preeya has also starred in single BBC drama Banglatown Banquet alongside Shabana Azmi and England Expects with Steven Mackintosh, BBC Pilot Hounslow Diaries and BBC Bedtime, BBC New Blood , And ITV Mr Eleven