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Parminder Kaur Nagra (born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. She is known for portraying Jess Bhamra in the film Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Dr. Neela Rasgotra in the NBC medical drama ER (2003–2009). Her other television roles include Meera Malik in the first season of the NBC crime drama The Blacklist (2013–2014) and a recurring role in the ABC/Marvel series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2016–2017) as Ellen Nadeer for season four. More recently, Nagra has starred as the titular character of the ITV series DI Ray (2022–2024).
Nagra attended Soar Valley College.
A few months after sitting her A-levels and leaving school, Nagra was approached by Jez Simons, her former drama instructor, about becoming part of the Leicester-based theatre company Haithizi Productions, for which he served as the artistic director. She accepted and was cast as a chorus member in the 1994 musical Nimai, presented at the Haymarket Theatre in Leicester. Only a week into rehearsals, she was switched from the chorus to replace the lead actress, who had dropped out. Simons recalls that Nagra, a good singer and actress, also had a quality that raised her above other actresses which led him to select her as the new lead, despite the inconvenience of performing with her arm in a cast.
Nagra appeared in "The 6th Wonder of the World: The Kali Tutti Story", in 1994. In 1996, Nagra took a small part in Chikamatsu Monzaemon's Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards that was performed at Cottesloe, Royal National Theatre.
Despite lacking formal theatrical training, Nagra signed with Joan Brown, a veteran London-based agent, after which she was cast in minor television roles in the British medical drama series Casualty, and in the made-for-television film King Girl, in which she played an abusive member of an all-girl gang. In 1997, Nagra appeared in the three-part drama Turning World alongside Roshan Seth.
The following year, she appeared on Casualty again. In 1999, she played a convenience store clerk in the television film Donovan Quick, opposite Colin Firth. Also of note were appearances on the British comedy Goodness Gracious Me. Nagra also co-starred in radio plays including, among others, plays by Tanika Gupta. In 1998, Nagra co-starred in the radio play Dancing Girls of Lahore which was co-written by her future Bend It Like Beckham co-star Shaheen Khan.
Nagra's other notable stage roles during this period include:
In 2001, Nagra voiced a Muslim girl in the docu-drama Arena: The Veil about women who choose to wear the Muslim head scarf. In 1997, not long after Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards, Nagra was cast in Oh Sweet Sita, an adaptation of Indian mythology about Rama and his wife Sita, in the title role of Sita. During that time, Nagra caught the attention of director Gurinder Chadha.
Nagra received critical and professional acclaim for her performance. She was nominated, and won, several awards, including the FIFA Presidential Award (2002), making her the first woman to have done so.
While on a promotional junket in Los Angeles for Bend It Like Beckham, Nagra was informed by her agent that John Wells, one of the producers of the NBC medical drama series ER, was interested in meeting her. Bend It Like Beckham writer and director Gurinder Chadha revealed during a 2007 episode of BBC's Movie Connections that she arranged the meeting, because she had recommended Nagra for the role of the new Indian character in ER during a conversation with her friend Wells. Not long after the meeting, Nagra signed a one-year contract that included an option for three additional years. Despite her new status, Nagra said, "I don't think Hollywood has changed me at all. The first thing I did when I arrived was buy chapati flour and lentils."
Nagra made her first appearance on ER on 25 September 2003, in the tenth-season premiere titled "Now What?" as Neela Rasgotra, a new Yale University-educated Anglo-Indian medical student at County General Hospital. Wells adapted the role to suit Nagra, so she could use her own English accent while working. Nagra appeared in twenty-one of the season's twenty-two episodes, including the twelfth episode titled "NICU" and the seventeenth episode titled "The Student", episodes in which her character played a central role. Noah Wyle, announcing his departure from the series in 2004, described Nagra as "the future" of ER, and the media concurred, anointing her as one of the show's "golden girls". In October 2008, following the departures of Goran Višnjić, Maura Tierney, and Mekhi Phifer, Nagra became the longest-serving cast member and lead actor of ER and remained so until the series concluded with season 15: episode 22, the two-hour series finale titled "And in the End..." which aired on 2 April 2009.
When Nagra finished filming the eleventh season of ER in 2005, she returned to her native Leicester to star in Love in Little India directed by Amit Gupta. She was nominated in 2006 for an Asian Excellence Award, in the category of Outstanding Female Television Performance, for her work in ER, and won the award the following year. In 2008, Nagra voiced Cassandra in the DC Comics animated film .
She played Miss Lovely in the children's film (2011). She then starred as Dr Lucy Banerjee in the Fox science fiction drama series Alcatraz which ran for one season from 16 January to 26 March 2012.
Nagra starred as CIA agent Meera Malik in the first season of the NBC crime drama series The Blacklist from 2013 to 2014.
In 2016, Nagra joined the second season of British arctic psychological thriller Fortitude. In 2018, Nagra joined the second season of the Netflix web television series 13 Reasons Why as Priya Singh, the new counsellor of Liberty High.
On 17 January 2009, after a seven-year relationship, Nagra married photographer James Stenson. Her ER co-stars Scott Grimes and John Stamos performed at the ceremony, and her friend and former ER co-star Maura Tierney officiated. The couple had a son together, but divorced in July 2013.
Nagra was one of the bearers of the Olympic torch as it passed through London on its way to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
As of 2022, she lived in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles.
Nagra was awarded the honorary degree by the University of Leicester on 11 July 2007.
She has also been nominated for or won a number of awards for her acting work, including:
2020s
Nagra starred as the titular character of the ITV series DI Ray. The first series of four episodes aired in 2022, with a second series of six episodes beginning filming in May 2023. and broadcast from 16 June 2024.
Personal life
In 1996, while on the set of the play Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards, Nagra met Irish actor Kieran Creggan, with whom she later moved into a flat in Kennington, South London. They were in a relationship for five years.
Recognition and honours
The National Portrait Gallery in London holds a pencil drawing of Nagra by Stuart Pearson Wright created in 2004.
+ 2010 Audie Awards Audiobook of the Yearrowspan=2
Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales Multi-Voiced Performance 2008 Asian Excellence Awards Outstanding television actress ER 2007 Asian Excellence Awards Outstanding television actress ER 2006 Morgan Stanley Great Britons Awards Arts 2005 South Asian Students' Alliance Recognition of Excellence Award
Outstanding Achievement in Acting (Female) ER 2004 Teen Choice Awards Choice Breakout TV Star—Female ER Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards Best Television Actress Second Generation (2003) Movieline Young Hollywood Awards Breakthrough Performance by a Female Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Internet Movie Awards Best Breakthrough Performance Bend It Like Beckham (2002) 2003 Empire Awards Best Newcomer Bend It Like Beckham (2002) 7th Annual Hollywood Film Festival Awards Hollywood Actress of the Year Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Ethnic Multicultural Media Awards Best Actress (Film) Bend It Like Beckham (2002) 2002 FIFA FIFA Presidential Award Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Bordeaux International Festival of Women in Cinema Golden Wave Award for Best Actress Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
Tied with Keira KnightleyBritish Independent Film Awards Most Promising Newcomer Bend It Like Beckham (2002) European Film Awards Audience Award Best Actress Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Carlton Multicultural Achievement Awards Film Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
Filmography
Film
+ 1991 Dushmani Jattan Di 1999 Park Stories Short film 2002 Bend It Like Beckham Jasminder "Jess" Bhamra 2004 Ella Enchanted Areida 2005 B13 Narrator Voice acting 2008 In Your Dreams Charlie Cassandra Voice 2010 Tere Ishq Nachaya Harpreet, Kamal's Cousin Billed as Parminder Kaur 2011 Miss Lovely 2012 Twenty8k Deeva Jani 2014 Nisha Bains Voice 2018 Bird Box Dr. Lapham 2019 Five Feet Apart Dr. Noor Hamid Piney: The Lonesome Pine Bus Driver Voice 2021 Awaken Rakhi Singh Short film 2023 The Kiss List Asha
Television
+ 1996 King Girl Ayshe TV movie 1996, 1998 Casualty Ayisha
Asha GuptahSeries 10; Episode 18: "Land of Hope"
Series 13; Episode 11: "Next of Kin"1997 Turning World Sabina 3 episodes 1998 Faxbir Babu Frik TV movie 1999 Small Potatoes Nina Episode: "Sexuality" 2000 Goodness Gracious Me Various 2 episodes Donovan Quick Radhika TV movie Holby City Tina Episode: "The Trouble with the Truth" 2001 Judge John Deed Ishbel McDonald Episode: "Exacting Justice" (Pilot) 2002 Always and Everyone Sunita Verma 8 episodes The Swap Hotel Receptionist TV movie. Uncredited role 2003 Twelfth Night, or What You Will Viola TV movie Second Generation Heere/Sonali Sharma TV movie 2003–2009 ER Dr. Neela Rasgotra Main cast (Seasons 10–15; 129 episodes) 2009 Compulsion Anjika Indrani TV movie 2010 The Whole Truth Pilar Shirazee Episode: "Liars" 2012 Alcatraz Dr. Lucille "Lucy" Banerjee Main cast; 13 episodes Ada Episode: "Isolated", voice 2013 Psych Rachael 4 episodes Reckless Susan TV movie 2013–2014 The Blacklist Meera Malik Main cast (Season 1; 21 episodes) 2015 Ella Deshai Episode: "Expiration Date" Evil Men Sarah Killas TV movie Kingmakers Radha TV movie 2016–2017 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ellen Nadeer 5 episodes 2017 Ben 10 Komal Episode: "Drive You Crazy", voice 2017–2018 Fortitude Dr. Surinder Khatri Main cast (Series 2; 9 episodes), voice cameo (Series 3) 2018 Elementary Special Agent Mallick 2 episodes 2018–2019 God Friended Me Pria Amar 5 episodes 2018–2020 13 Reasons Why Counselor Priya Singh 5 episodes 2020 Black-ish Dr. Wen Episode: "Hero Pizza" 2021 Intergalactic Arch-Marshall Rebecca Harper Main cast; 8 episodes 2022–2024 DI Ray Detective Inspector Rachita Ray Title character (Seasons 1 & 2; 10 episodes) 2023 Maternal Dr. Maryam Afridi Main cast; 6 episodes
Footnotes
External links
Categories: 1975 Births, Living People, 20th-century English Actresses, 21st-century English Actresses, Actresses From Leicester, English Expatriate Actresses In The United States, English Film Actresses, English People Of Indian Descent, English People Of Punjabi Descent, English Television Actresses, English Voice Actresses, English Sikhs
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