Navin Chowdhry

Last updated

Navin Chowdhry
Born (1971-11-22) 22 November 1971 (age 52)
Alma mater Imperial College London
Occupation Actor
Height173 cm (5 ft 8 in)

Navin Chowdhry (born 22 November 1971) [1] is an English actor. He may be best known for his main cast roles in Teachers and A Touch of Cloth , and his role as Nish Panesar in the BBC soap opera EastEnders .

Contents

Early life

Chowdhry is of Indian origin. He was born and brought up in Bristol, England. [2] He is the son of Simi Chowdhry, a well-known female activist. In 1994, he graduated from Imperial College London with an upper second class honours degree in biochemistry. [3]

Career

At age 16, Chowdhry made his acting debut in the 1988 film, Madame Sousatzka with Shabana Azmi and Shirley MacLaine. [3]

His next major role was as I.T. teacher Kurt McKenna in the successful comedy show Teachers in 2001–2003, [2] and is also well known for playing PC Sanjay Singh in Dalziel and Pascoe . He also appeared as a possible rapist in Judge John Deed .

Chowdhry appeared in Waking The Dead , Series 3, Episode 3, entitled "Breaking Glass", opposite Trevor Eve and Sue Johnston. In the episode, he portrays the psychologically affected "Rainman". He then starred in the Channel 4 drama series NY-LON as Raph. [4]

On 30 October 2005, he appeared on stage at the Old Vic theatre in London in the one-night play Night Sky alongside Christopher Eccleston, Bruno Langley, David Warner, Saffron Burrows and David Baddiel. In 2005 he made a guest appearance in Doctor Who , then starring Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. In 2006, he appeared in the BBC Three drama series Sinchronicity , playing Mani.

In 2009, he appeared in two episodes of the Channel 4 series Free Agents and featured in Skellig . In 2010, he starred in the BBC television pilot Reunited , playing Danny. [5]

Chowdhry has also produced projects such as the award-winning short film "This Bastard Business" and a short play entitled Mashed. [3]

He played Anwar in the critically acclaimed 2015 BBC TV series Doctor Foster and in 2016 he played Sonny Desai in Series 18's first episode of Midsomer Murders .

Chowdhry portrayed Nodin Chavdri in the 2017 film Star Wars: The Last Jedi .

In 2019, he appeared in Sarah Rutherford's play "The Girl Who Fell" at Trafalgar Studios. [6]

In 2022, Chowdhry began playing the previously unseen and imprisoned Nish Panesar in EastEnders. [4] Nish, a manipulative psychopath, first appeared during the final stages of his 20-year prison sentence and was released shortly thereafter.

Filmography

Film

YearFilmRoleNotes
1988 Madame Sousatzka Manek Sen
1990 King of the Wind Agba
1993 The Seventh Coin Salim
1994 The Dove's Lost Necklace Hassan
1998Surviving SabuAminShort
2000Skin DeepNormanTV film
This Bastard BusinessVinodShort
2001LandmarkJaswinderShort
2002Bhangra HeadsHariTV film
2004SeafoodNaveenShort
2005 Red Mercury Asif
2007A Chaat in the ParkMahirShort
2008Ny-LonRaphTV film
2009 Skellig'Mr. WatsonTV film
2010 Reunited DannyTV film
2015 I Love NY Ishan
2016FerriedAhmedShort
2017With Love from CalaisNavShort
Star Wars: The Last Jedi Resistance Cargo Pilot

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1993 London's Burning Rasheed1 episode
1994 Schwarz greift ein RawiEpisode: "Blinde Wut"
1995 Crown Prosecutor Raj Kapoor1 episode
1996 Casualty ZafEpisode: "Land of Hope"
Gulliver's Travels Prince Munodi1 episode
1997 The Ruth Rendell Mysteries AmalEpisode: "The Double"
Insiders Jonathan MasonEpisode: "Offending Behaviour"
Dalziel and Pascoe PC Sanjay Singh4 episodes
2000 City Central Tim AnandEpisode: "History"
2001 Judge John Deed Colin GeeEpisode: "Rough Justice"
On A Life's EdgePeterTV short
2001-2003 Teachers Kurt McKennaSeries regular
2002 Animated Tales of the World PawelEpisode: "The Flower of Fern"
2003 Waking the Dead RainmanEpisode: "Breaking Glass"
2004 NY-LON RaphMini-series
2005 Doctor Who Indra GaneshEpisode: "Aliens of London"
New Tricks Sergeant Pushkar GuhaEpisode: "Family Business"
The Golden Hour Dr. Naz OsbourneMini-series
2006 Sinchronicity ManiSeries regular
2009 Free Agents Raz2 episodes
2010 Five Days DC Bilal Choudry2 episodes
2011 The Body Farm Parvez Khan1 episode
2012Mr Blue SkyRakesh Rathi3 episodes
20122014 A Touch of Cloth DC Asap QureshiSeries regular
2013 The Job Lot Sunil Mitesh1 episode
2014 Babylon AdeelMini-series
2015 Doctor Foster Anwar3 episodes
2016 Midsomer Murders Sonny DesaiEpisode: "Habeas Corpus"
2017 The Replacement KieranMini-series
The End of the F***ing World TonySeries regular
2018Next of KinDr. Kareem ShiraniSeries regular
Our Girl Inspector Chowdhrey4 episodes
2019 Death in Paradise Andy SpriggsEpisode: "Wish You Weren't Here"
Thunderbirds Are Go CameronEpisode: "Chain Reaction"
2020 McDonald & Dodds Pete WattalEpisode: "The Fall of the House of Crockett"
Out of Her Mind Steve2 episodes
2021 Trying DevenRecurring role
2022–present EastEnders Nish Panesar Regular role

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References

  1. Navin Chowdhry. Hollywood.com. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  2. 1 2 "Teachers". channel4.com. Channel4.
  3. 1 2 3 "Navin Chowdhry plays Mani". bbc.co.uk. BBC. 11 July 2006.
  4. 1 2 "Navin Chowdhry who plays Raph in the trans-atlantic drama NY-LON joined us for a webchat after the show". NY-LON- Channel4.com. 28 October 2004. Archived from the original on 10 September 2005.
  5. Pettie, Andrew (30 June 2010). "Reunited: with the type of long-lost friends you'd rather leave behind, review". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 July 2010.
  6. Cashell, Eleni (5 September 2019). "Claire Goose and Navin Chowdhry announced for the Girl Who Fell". officiallondontheatre.com.