Shobna Gulati

Shobna Gulati (born 7 August 1966) is a British actress and presenter.

In the late 1990s, she appeared in both series of Victoria Wood's BBC sitcom dinnerladies.

One of Gulati's earliest appearances was as a dancer in the video for Boy George's 1991 single "Bow Down Mister".

She appeared as Ameena Badawi from October to December 2000 in EastEnders.

Gulati is known for her roles as Anita in dinnerladies, and Sunita Alahan in the soap opera Coronation Street from 2001 to 2013.

In 2001, she appeared in the short film Shadowscan, directed by Tinge Krishnan, which won a Bafta Award and, in 2004, 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 for the first time in 2006, she played Nisha Clayton, a regular 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 her co-star Nitin Ganatra play a holidaying couple who are under the mistaken belief Guantanamo Bay is a holiday resort.

The sketch also starred the American actors Chevy Chase and Seth Green.

Gulati was one of the storytellers in a 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, Manchester.

In 2008, Gulati made her debut as a filmmaker, producing the short film Akshay for the motiroti's 60x60 Secs.

This was shortlisted for the Satyajit Ray short film awards.

During this same period, she 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 on CBBC.

She appeared in Coronation Street as Sunita and in the same role in "East Street", a crossover between both soaps, as part of the 2010 Children In Need telethon.

Gulati made her Loose Women debut on 18 November 2010 to celebrate 50 years of Coronation Street, appearing with regulars Kate Thornton, Sherrie Hewson and Carol McGiffin.

In June 2011, Gulati was a guest on Countdown.

Announcing her departure from Coronation Street, she expressed her desire to write and perform more comedy than her work in a soap opera had permitted her time to do.

Gulati returned to the show on 11 April 2012 appearing alongside regulars Andrea McLean, Jane McDonald and Janet Street-Porter during soap week.

From 2013 to 2014, Gulati appeared as a panellist on the lunchtime talk show Loose Women.

Gulati returned to the show as a regular from 13 March 2013, taking over from Sally Lindsay who took time off to film Mount Pleasant, from September 2013, Gulati became an occasional panellist on the show, before leaving on 30 May 2014.

In 2016, she appeared in the ITV/Netflix series Paranoid.

Gulati made a guest appearance in Casualty on 29 October 2016.

In 2017, she appeared as Saba in the British romantic comedy film Finding Fatimah.

In 2018, Gulati appeared in the Doctor Who episodes "Arachnids in the UK" and "Demons of the Punjab" as Najia Khan, mother of The Doctor's companion Yaz Khan.

Gulati played Ray in the West End production of Everybody's Talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theatre in 2018.

Now adapted as a screenplay, Gulati played the part of Ray alongside Sarah Lancashire.

Everybody's Talking About Jamie was released on 17 September 2021.

In 2022, she led the company of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice as Mari Hoff, and starred in the show alongside her son Akshay.

She took over the role of Ray in the West End production of Everybody's Taking About Jamie in 2019 and also reprised the role for the movie adaptation.

Most recently, she played the role of Nima in Hullraisers, Mari Hoff in the 2022 UK Tour of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, and is reprising the role of Ray in Everybody's Talking About Jamie for the 2023-2024 UK and Ireland Tour.

Gulati was born in Oldham, Lancashire, to Hindu Indian parents.

She grew up in the Salcombe area of Openshaw, Manchester, where she became friends with actress Sarah Lancashire.

She has a degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern politics from the University of Manchester.