Rakhee Thakrar

Rakhee Thakrar
Born Rakhee Thakrar
(1984-02-29) 29 February 1984
Leicester, Leicestershire, England
Occupation Actress
Years active 2006–present
Television EastEnders (2014–16)

Rakhee Thakrar (born 29 February 1984[1]) is an English actress from Leicester, Leicestershire, best known for playing the character of Shabnam Masood in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She also plays the Eighth Doctor's companion, Bliss, in Big Finish's Doctor Who: The Time War audio dramas.

Early life

Thakrar grew up in the city of Leicester, England, where she attended Taylor Primary School then Soar Valley College. As a teenager Thakrar became involved with Leicester theatre company, Hathi Productions,[1] which was run by her drama teacher at Soar Valley College.

Journalism

In 2004, Thakrar was one of twenty young people recruited to the Leicester Mercury's Pathfinder scheme. Run in conjunction with Leicester City Council, it enabled a team of young journalists to spend ten months gaining an introduction to print journalism and reporting on their communities. During this time Thakrar wrote articles on subjects such as the influence Bollywood has had on Leicester, as well as the peculiar situation of being born on 29 February.[1]

Acting career

In 2004, Thakrar landed the role of Roopa Chauhan in the radio drama Silver Street, which was broadcast on the BBC Asian Network.[2] Thakrar played the role from the first episode in 2004, to the last episode in 2010. In 2006, Thakrar made her first TV appearance in BBC drama Banglatown Banquet. Thakrar went on to feature in a number of TV series including Doctors, Holby City, Peep Show and, notably, played a lead character in British-Asian drama Cloud 9.

Thakrar was cast in EastEnders in 2013 and appeared on screen in the show for the first time on 13 January 2014. Her character, Shabnam Masood, had previously been played by Zahra Ahmadi from 2007 to 2008.[3] Thakrar's most famous storyline while portraying Shabnam was when the character gave birth to a stillborn son, with viewers, critics and co-workers praising her performance throughout the storyline. Due to her performance in the storyline, Thakrar has subsequently become an ambassador for the stillbirth charity, Sands. Thakrar left EastEnders in 2015 and was last seen onscreen on 5 February 2016, following Shabnam's failed marriage to Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami).

Filmography

Film and television
Year Title Role Notes
2006 Banglatown Banquet Rozena TV Movie
Tourettes Haiku Sunny Short
2007 Doctors Safeena Abbasi 1 Episode - Season 9, Episode 37 - Losing It All
2009 No Signal! Various Episode 7
2010 Doctors Jasmin Sharma 1 Episode - Season 12, Episode 30 - Pound of Flesh
2010-2011 Holby City Sarita Dubashi 3 Episodes - Season 13, Episodes 3-4 and 17
2011 Page Eight Muna Hammami TV Movie
DCI Banks Lab Assistant 1 Episode - Season 2, Episode 1 - Playing with Fire: Part 1
The Jury Rashid's Sister 1 Episode - Season 2, Episode 1
2012 TYU's Company GGS Voice Short
Peep Show Waitress 1 Episode - Season 8, Episode 2 - Business Secrets of the Pharaohs
2013 Bollywood Carmen Tannishta TV Movie
Cloud 9 Simran TV Series
2014–16 EastEnders Shabnam Masood Soap opera

References

  1. 1 2 3 "From St Matthew's to the Mitchells... Leicester's Rakhee Thakrar is the new face on Eastenders". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "Drama Queen - Is Rakhee Thakrar the new Parminder Nagra?". Asiana.TV. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  3. ↑ Drewett, Meg (1 December 2013). "'EastEnders': Shabnam Masood returning to soap, role recast". Digital Spy. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
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