Shaheen Khan (British actress)

This article is about the British actress. For other people with the same name, see Shaheen Khan.

Shaheen Khan (born 1960 in Moshi, Tanganyika)^[1] is a British film, television and stage actress and playwright of Indian descent,^[2] based in London.^[3]

Shaheen Khan
Born	1960 (age 64–65) Moshi, Tanganyika
Alma mater	Kingston University[1]
Occupation(s)	Actress and playwright
Years active	1976–present[1]
Children	Sophie Khan Levy

Career

Film and television

Khan is best known for her role as Mrs Bhamra in the 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham.^[2] Other films in which she has performed include Bhaji on the Beach (1993)^[4] and It's a Wonderful Afterlife (2010).^[5] On television, she has had a recurring role in Casualty^[1] and a guest role in the Doctor Who episode Demons of the Punjab.^[6]

Theatre

As a playwright, Khan has written several performances for BBC Radio 4 with Sudha Bhuchar, the most successful of which was Girlies (1997).^[1] Also with Bhuchar, she wrote the stage play Balti Kings, which debuted in 1999 and was produced by Tamasha Theatre Company.^[7] Balti Kings was also rewritten by both for its appearance in Sydney, Australia, where it was renamed to The Curry Kings of Parrammatta.^[8] Another production involving Tamasha and Bhuchar was A Tainted Dawn, which covered sketches relaying real accounts of the 1947 Partition of India and its impact on communities, which Khan starred in for two separate sketches.^[9] A co-written screenplay with Bhuchar, The House across the Street, was created as a part of a new writer's initiative at the BBC and aired on BBC4.^[10] In 2015 she played Lady Macbeth in a contemporary Asian production of Macbeth produced by multicultural theatre production company Tara Arts.^[11][12]

Awards and honours

For her role in Bend It Like Beckham, Khan earned a 2003 nomination for a Satellite Award for best Supporting Actress.^[13] As a British Indian, she has been recognized for her contributions to the arts with an Asian Women of Achievement Award.^[2]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1986	Love Match	Rehana	TV film	[14]
1987	Boon	Dr. Hamill	Episode: "Wheels of Fortune"	[1]
1987	Partition
1987	Tandoori Nights	Neelam	Episode: "Holy Deadlock"	[14]
1988	London's Burning	Samina	Episode #1.2	[1]
1988	Screen Two	Naseem	Episode: "Love Birds"	[14]
1988	Casualty	Kiran Joghill	10 episodes	[1]
1990	Screen Two	Zelda	Episode: "Old Flames"	[14]
1990	The Bill	Ruth Davdra	Episode: "Interpretations"	[14]
1991	Family Pride	Shoba Kilmar		[14]
1992	Screen Two	Maryam	Episode: "My Sister-Wife"	[1]
1993	Medics	Jaya Chaudry	Episode #3.6	[1]
1993	Bhaji on the Beach	Simi		[4]
1993	The Bill	Veena Patel	Episode: "Behind Closed Doors"	[14]
1994	Grange Hill	Grace	Episode #17.2	[1]
1994	Captives	Estate Agent		[15]
1996	Hollow Reed	Dr. Razmu		[16]
1997	Flight	Ma	TV film	[1]
2000	Doctors	P.C. Penny	Episode: "They Can't Take That Away from Me"
2000	Animated Tales of the World	Podni / Kitten / Stream	Episode: "Podna and Podni: A Story from Pakistan"
2001	Holby City	Shireen Hasani	Episode: "Rogue Males"	[14]
2001	Yo Awesome Awesome!	Dancer	Episode: "Teeth"
2002	Bend It Like Beckham	Mrs. Bhamra		[2]
2004	Holby City	Varsha Persaud	Episode: "Braver Soul Than I"
2004	Pink Ludoos	Mrs. Dhaliwal		[3]
2005	The Mistress of Spices	Jagit's Mother		[17]
2006	Provoked	Jamila
2006	The Bill	Jamila Khan	Episode: "434: A Different Type of Threat - Part 1"	[14]
2006	Spooks	Ruby MacKenzie	Episode: "Gas and Oil: Part 2"
2007	My Life as a Popat	Shoba Popat	13 episodes (6 in 2004, 7 in 2007)
2007	Americanizing Shelley	Kirat J. Singh
2007	Britz	Shahnaz Wahid	TV film
2008	In His Shoes	Mummy	Short film
2010	It's a Wonderful Afterlife	Manjit Kaur		[5]
2010	Small Gifts	The Woman	Short film	[18]
2010	You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger	Dia's Aunt
2011	Everywhere and Nowhere	Rubena Khan
2014	Casualty	Elena Kalpar	Episode: "To Yourself Be True"
2014	Honeycomb Lodge	Jas' Mother
2015	A World For Her	Toto	Short film
2016	The Five	Mrs. Palmer	Episode #1.4
2016	In the Club	Sumita	4 episodes (1 in 2014, 3 in 2016)
2017	Unforgotten	GP	Episode #2.2
2017	Those Four Walls	Shobha
2017	The Boy with the Topknot	Aunt Sharanjit	TV film	[19]
2018	Doctor Who	Hasna	Episode: "Demons of the Punjab"	[6]
2018	Only the Lonely	Shelina	Short film
2018	The Reluctant Landlord	Jayanthi	5 episodes	[20]
2019	Apple Tree House	Grandma Zainab	71 episodes	[21]
2020	Mogul Mowgli	Aunty Tasneem
2022	India 1947: Partition in Colour	Narrator	Two-part documentary	[22]
2023	Maternal	Sania Masoom	ITV drama	[23]