| |
|
| Parminder
Nagra |
Parminder
was born in 1975 to Sikh parents. Her parents from Punjab,
India, emigrated to the UK in 1960. Her father, Sukha
Singh and mother, Nachhatar Kaur had two sons and two
daughter. All kids were small when her parents separated.
Parminder was the eldest in the family. Her mother and
step father raised their kids in a small house in Leicester
area. She was only seven years old when she suffered a
burn that resulted a scar on her leg.
She
attended Northfield House Primary School in Leicester.
At Soar Valley College she played viola in the youth orchestra
and also appeared in her first theatrical productions.
- In
1991,Nagra took a job as an usher at the Leicester Haymarket
Theatre at the age of 16. Her former boss recalls her as
brilliant, polite, and very sweet, but also that she was
quiet, giving no hints as to her future rise to stardom.
- In
1995, she left the theatre and went to London to follow
a career in acting.
- In
1996, Nagra took a small part in Fair Ladies at a Game of
Poem Cards, written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon and performed
at Cottesloe, Royal National Theatre. It was there that
she met Irish actor Kieran Creggan, with whom she later
moved into a flat in Kennington, south London. Their relationship
continued for five years.
- In
1997, She returned to Leicesterto perform in "Tainted
Dawn" with the London-based Tamasha Theatre Company.
I Nagra appeared in the three-part drama Turning World,
starring Roshan Seth. Nagra was cast- Oh Sweet Sita, an
adaptation of Indian mythology about Rama and his dutiful
wife Sita.
- In
1998, Nagra was part of Dancing Girls of Lahore, a radio
play co-written by her future Bend It Like Beckham co-star,
Shaheen Khan.
- In
1999, she play the part of a convenience store clerk in
the television movie Donovan Quick, starring Colin Firth.
Also of note are appearances on the British comedy shows
Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No. 42.
- In
2001, Nagra provided the voice of a Muslim girl in Arena:
The Veil, a docu-drama about women who choose to wear the
Muslim head scarf.
- In
2002, she was offered a lead role in film "Bend it
Like Beckham," opposite fellow Brit starlet Keira Knightly.
The film, in which Parminder played an aspiring footballer,
received international acclaim. Bend It Like Beckham was
directed by Gurinder Chadha. It starred Nagra, Jonathan
Rhys-Meyers, Anupam Kher, Shaheen Khan, and Keira Knightley,
for whom this film was also a career breakthrough. Nagra’s
first film, that turned her into an international celebrity
almost overnight. The small-budget picture was a critical
and financial success in the United Kingdom, eventually
making the leap around the world and to the United States
where it earned over $30 million at the box office, making
it the highest-grossing British comedy in U.S. history.
The script, conceived by Chadha with her husband Paul Mayeda
Berges and Guljit Bindra, was written especially with Nagra
in mind. While initially indifferent to the game of football,
Nagra found the football-centred story to be both funny
and touching. She agreed to audition and eventually accepted
the role. She had never played football and was portraying
a character nearly a decade younger than she was. An intensive
ten-week training course of the game futsal, led by noted
coach Simon Clifford, put Nagra through rigorous nine-hour-a-day
workouts.
- She
earned a place in The Observer newspaper's top 10 British
TV programmes of 2003. It garnered Nagra a prestigious Ethnic
Multicultural Media Academy (EMMA) Award for her turn as
a sexually liberated and independent-minded young Anglo-Indian
woman. Nagra made her first ER appearance as County General
Hospital medical intern Neela Rasgotra on September 25,
2003, in season 10's premiere episode entitled
- In
2004, Nagra was approached by Jez Simons, her former drama
instructor, about becoming part of Hathi Productions, a
leading Leicester-based British Indian theatre company,
for which he served as the artistic director. She accepted
and was cast as a chorus member inmusical Nimai presented
at the Leicester Haymarket. Only a week into rehearsals,
she was plucked from the chorus to take the place of the
lead actress who had dropped out. British viewers got the
chance to see this Belgrave-born actress in this top-rated
US medical.
- In
2006, she was nominated for a Asian Excellence Award, in
the category of Outstanding Female Television Performance,
for her work in ER. She went on to win the award the following
year.
- In
2007, Nagra was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctors of
Letters by the University of Leicester.
- In
2007, ER producer John Well smade Nagra an offer to join
the ensemble cast; she accepted immediately. In recalling
the moment, she said, "I had to sit still and act professional,
while all the time I just wanted to jump up and run around
the room screaming". 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".
Ms. Nagra is
playing role in the next DC animated movie, Batman- Gotham
Knight. It is directed by Bruce Timm, who produced the
Emmy-Award winning Batman: The Animated Series.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
