Shobna Gulati
Encyclopedia
Shobna Gulati is an English actress, writer, and dancer of Indian origin, best known for playing Anita in Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies
, and Sunita Alahan
in the long-running soap opera
Coronation Street
from 2001 to 2006, a role to which she returned at the end of 2009. She is also known for being one of very few actors to have appeared in both Coronation Street
and its rival series EastEnders
for the BBC
(in 2000).
, Lancashire
and has a degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern
politics from the University of Manchester
.
In the late 1990s, she received excellent reviews for her work in Victoria Wood
's BBC
sitcom dinnerladies
; in 2001, she appeared in the short film Shadowscan, directed by Tinge Krishnan, which won a BAFTA Award; and in 2004 Gulati 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
and as Diana Ross
in Celebrity
Stars in Their Eyes
. In early 2006, Gulati took part in the Reality TV series Soapstar Superstar
.
After she left Coronation Street
in 2006, Gulati played Nisha Clayton, a recurring 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 the 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 skit, Gulati and co-star Nitin Ganatra
play a holidaying couple who are under the mistaken belief Guantanamo Bay
is a holiday resort. The sketch also starred American actors Chevy Chase
and Seth Green
.
Gulati has recently been seen as one of many storytellers in the 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 Theatre in 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.
On June 11, 2009 she appeared in the BBC1 programme Celebrity MasterChef. She did the first stage tour of dinnerladies in early 2009 and she has recently appeared as a guest story teller for (cbbc, Bedtime Stories).
In November 2010, She was a guest panellist on ITVs flagship show Loose Women
, to celebrate fifty years of Coronation Street
, and in June 2011 she was a guest on Countdown
.
from India
in the 1960s. She has an older brother, Rajesh, and sisters Sushma and Hema
She married the architect Anshu Srivastava in a Hindu ceremony on 10 November 1990 but the couple divorced in May 1994. She lived separately from her husband and became pregnant with Akshay at the time, who now attends The Hammond School in Chester, Studying a diploma in acting and singing; His best friends name is Lemuel Knights who also attends The Hammond. From 1999 to 2003 she went out with ex-Emmerdale
actor Gary Turner.
Gulati has a good working knowledge of six languages and is a vocal supporter of Asian women's rights and various anti-racism
campaigns. She works on female body image issues. She is a supporter and a season ticket holder of Manchester United.
Dinnerladies
Dinnerladies is a British sitcom written, co-produced by and starring Victoria Wood. It ran on BBC One for 16 episodes from 1998 to 2000.-Plot:...
, and Sunita Alahan
Sunita Alahan
Sunita Alahan is a fictional character from the British ITV1 soap opera Coronation Street, played by Shobna Gulati. She made her first on-screen appearance on 23 March 2001 and remained in the show until 2005, when the character was axed from the serial by producer Tony Wood...
in the long-running soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
from 2001 to 2006, a role to which she returned at the end of 2009. She is also known for being one of very few actors to have appeared in both Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
and its rival series EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
(in 2000).
Early life and career
Gulati was born in OldhamOldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
and has a degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
politics from the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
.
In the late 1990s, she received excellent reviews for her work in Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood CBE is a British comedienne, actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and director. Wood has written and starred in sketches, plays, films and sitcoms, and her live stand-up comedy act is interspersed with her own compositions, which she accompanies on piano...
's BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sitcom dinnerladies
Dinnerladies
Dinnerladies is a British sitcom written, co-produced by and starring Victoria Wood. It ran on BBC One for 16 episodes from 1998 to 2000.-Plot:...
; in 2001, she appeared in the short film Shadowscan, directed by Tinge Krishnan, which won a BAFTA Award; and in 2004 Gulati was nominated for a Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
The Manchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester in the United Kingdom. It is published every day except Sunday and is owned by Trinity Mirror plc following its sale by Guardian Media Group in early 2010. It has an average daily circulation of 90,973 copies...
Theatre Award for her work in the play Dancing within walls, which was staged at the Contact Theatre
Contact Theatre
-Contact:Contact is a multi-disciplinary arts venue in Manchester. Originally a traditional theatre Contact was rebranded in 1999 as a space specialising in producing work and providing opportunities for young people.-History:...
in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
.
Gulati has also appeared on the TV quiz shows Call My Bluff, Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
, The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link
The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...
and as Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
in Celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
Stars in Their Eyes
Stars In Their Eyes
Stars in Their Eyes is a British television talent show that ran on Saturdays nights from 21 July 1990 until 23 December 2006 in which contestants impersonate showbiz stars...
. In early 2006, Gulati took part in the Reality TV series Soapstar Superstar
Soapstar Superstar
Soapstar Superstar was a reality singing competition produced by Granada Television which first aired on British television station ITV in 2006. In the competition, ten soap opera actors perform in front of a celebrity panel, which included Cilla Black, Billy Sammeth and Chris Cowey...
.
After she left Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
in 2006, Gulati played Nisha Clayton, a recurring role in the final series of Where the Heart Is
Where the Heart Is (1997 TV series)
Where the Heart Is is a British television drama series set in the fictional town Skelthwaite.First shown in 1997, it was created by Ashley Pharoah and Vicky Featherstone...
and made appearances in New Street Law
New Street Law
New Street Law is a British legal drama television series produced by Red Production Company in association with One-Eyed Dog Ltd for BBC One. The series was created by G. F. Newman and Matthew Hall, and starred an ensemble cast headed by John Hannah and Paul Freeman...
and the one-off comedy drama Magnolia
Magnolia
Magnolia is a large genus of about 210 flowering plant species in the subfamily Magnolioideae of the family Magnoliaceae. It is named after French botanist Pierre Magnol....
which was written by Dave Spikey
Dave Spikey
Dave Spikey is an English comedian, actor, writer and film producer, currently residing in Chorley, Lancashire....
for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Comedy Playhouse series.
In October 2006, Gulati appeared at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
as part of a short skit
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
featured in The Secret Policeman's Ball
The Secret Policeman's Ball (2006)
The Secret Policeman's Ball 2006 was the title of the show staged as a benefit for human rights organization Amnesty International at London's Royal Albert Hall in October 2006....
. In the skit, Gulati and co-star Nitin Ganatra
Nitin Ganatra
Nitin Ganatra is a Kenyan born British actor. He is known internationally as Prince Pondicherry in the Tim Burton film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He also appears in the Gurinder Chada film Bride and Prejudice as Kholi Saab and The Mistress of Spices as Haroun...
play a holidaying couple who are under the mistaken belief Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay detainment camp
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees from the war in Afghanistan and later Iraq...
is a holiday resort. The sketch also starred American actors Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...
and Seth Green
Seth Green
Seth Benjamin Green is an American actor, comedian, voice actor, and television producer. He is well known for his role as Daniel "Oz" Osbourne in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as Dr. Evil's son Scott in the Austin Powers series of comedy films, Mitch Miller in That '70s Show, and the voice of Chris...
.
Gulati has recently been seen as one of many storytellers in the CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
revival of Jackanory
Jackanory
Jackanory is a long-running BBC children's television series that was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, the first story being the fairy-tale Cap o' Rushes read by Lee Montague. Jackanory continued to be broadcast until 24 March 1996,...
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 Theatre in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
.
In 2008 Gulati made her debut as a filmmaker, producing the short film Akshay for the motiroti
Motiroti
motiroti is a London based arts organisation led by Artistic Director Ali Zaidi. For over ten years the company has made internationally acclaimed and award winning art that transforms relationships between people, communities and spaces...
's 60x60 Secs. This was shortlisted for the Satyajit Ray, short film awards.
On June 11, 2009 she appeared in the BBC1 programme Celebrity MasterChef. She did the first stage tour of dinnerladies in early 2009 and she has recently appeared as a guest story teller for (cbbc, Bedtime Stories).
In November 2010, She was a guest panellist on ITVs flagship show Loose Women
Loose Women
Loose Women is a British lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. It consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip...
, to celebrate fifty years of Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
, and in June 2011 she was a guest on Countdown
Countdown (game show)
Countdown is a British game show involving word and number puzzles. It is produced by ITV Studios and broadcast on Channel 4. It is presented by Jeff Stelling, assisted by Rachel Riley, with regular lexicographer Susie Dent. It was the first programme to be aired on Channel 4, and over sixty-five...
.
Personal life
Gulati is the daughter of a doctor who arrived in OldhamOldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amid the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers Irk and Medlock, south-southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of the city of Manchester...
from India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in the 1960s. She has an older brother, Rajesh, and sisters Sushma and Hema
She married the architect Anshu Srivastava in a Hindu ceremony on 10 November 1990 but the couple divorced in May 1994. She lived separately from her husband and became pregnant with Akshay at the time, who now attends The Hammond School in Chester, Studying a diploma in acting and singing; His best friends name is Lemuel Knights who also attends The Hammond. From 1999 to 2003 she went out with ex-Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
actor Gary Turner.
Gulati has a good working knowledge of six languages and is a vocal supporter of Asian women's rights and various anti-racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
campaigns. She works on female body image issues. She is a supporter and a season ticket holder of Manchester United.