TV ACTRESS
Parminder Nagra
Since Winning the EMMA Award
Parminder Nagra is a British Actress who in 2004, was one of the bearers of the Olympic torch as it passed through London on its way to that year’s Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
In 2008, Parminder voiced Cassandra in the DC animated film Batman: Gotham Knight and played Miss Lovely in the 2011 children’s film Horrid Henry: The Movie. She went on to star in various shows including Alcatraz, NBC’s crime drama The Blacklist, the British psychological thriller Fortitude, the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why and the ITV series DI Ray.
Parminder has continued to appear in films such as Bird Box and Five Feet and has been praised for her positive cultural impact, particularly for her portrayal of strong and independent South Asian women on screen. In 2007, she received an honorary Doctorate from the University of Leicester. Parminder has been a role model for many young South Asian women and has helped to break down many stereotypes about South Asians in the entertainment industry.
Background (Before 2004)
Parminder Nagra was born in Leicester, England, to parents who emigrated from India in the 1960s. She attended Soar Valley College, and a few months after sitting her A-levels and leaving school, her former drama instructor, Jez Simons, approached her about joining the Leicester-based theatre company Haithizi Productions, for which he served as the artistic director. Parminder accepted and was initially cast as a chorus member in the 1994 musical Nimai, presented at the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester, but was soon switched from the chorus to replace the lead actress, who had dropped out.
Parminder later left Leicester for London and pursued her childhood ambition of becoming an actress. Her first London theatrical job was in 1994, when she was cast as the Princess in the pantomime Sleeping Beauty at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. She then worked with small Indian theatre companies such as Tara Arts and Tamasha. This led to her career in film and television, with roles such as Jess Bhamra in the film Bend It Like Beckham and Dr. Neela Rasgotra in the NBC medical drama ER, both of which she received multiple awards and nominations for.
Parminder has appeared in many mainstream films and TV shows such as Goodness Gracious Me, Ella Enchanted, Casualty, Holby City and Judge John Deed. Her stage credits include Skeleton, A Tainted Dawn, Fourteen Songs, Two Weddings & A Funeral, Krishna’s Lila—A Play of the Asian World, The Square Circle and River on Fire. In 2001, Parminder voiced a Muslim girl in the docu-drama Arena: The Veil, which was about women who chose to wear the Muslim headscarf.
