Nina Wadia

Nina Wadia (born 18 December 1968 ) is an English actress and comedian. She is known for portraying Zainab Masood in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, Aunty Noor in Citizen Khan, Mrs Hussein in the BBC comedy Still Open All Hours and for starring in the BBC Two sketch show Goodness Gracious Me.

Additionally, Wadia appeared in the Hindi-language romantic comedy Namaste London in 2007. She also appeared in the series Origin in 2018 and the BBC soap opera Doctors as Binita Prabhu in 2023.

Early life
Wadia was born on 18 December 1968 in Chingford, London to Indian parents who were of Parsi ancestry. She has an older brother and older sister; both of her parents have died. When Wadia was nine years old she moved to Hong Kong and was a student at Island School, Hong Kong.

Television and film
Wadia first came to prominence in BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, playing characters such as Mrs "I can make it at home for nothing!" and one half of The Competitive Mothers. She took over from her Goodness Gracious Me co-star, Meera Syal, in the role of Rupinder in the sitcom All About Me alongside Jasper Carrott and Natalia Kills. In 2007, Wadia was cast as Zainab Masood in the long-running BBC soap opera EastEnders. Her last appearance as Zainab in EastEnders was on 8 February 2013. She also had a minor role in EastEnders in 1994, playing a nurse named Viv who treated Michelle Fowler (Susan Tully) when she was hospitalised with a gunshot wound. She also appears as Zainab in the 2010 spin-off EastEnders: E20.

Wadia has also made several guest appearances in various British comedies and dramas, such as 2point4 Children, The Vicar of Dibley, Thin Ice Chambers, Holby City, Murder in Mind, Doctors and New Tricks. She was a regular presenter on the ITV topical chat show, Loose Women (2005–2006). Wadia also appeared in the E4 teen drama Skins, playing the mother of Anwar Kharral, and, in March 2008, she appeared in the BBC Three drama West 10 LDN. Wadia played the wedding caterer in the comedy film Bend It Like Beckham.

She played a role as the housekeeper in the film I Can't Think Straight, directed by Shamim Sarif. The film revolves about two women from Indian and Palestinian upper-class immigrant communities in the UK who fall in love, and Wadia is the housekeeper who rebels at her high-handed Palestinian employer in small ways. She also had a minor part in the film Code 46 (2003). She starred in a BFI/BBC film Sixth Happiness along with Firdaus Kanga in 1997. The film explores sexuality, disability and the Parsees, a small westernised minority in India, of which Wadia herself is a member. She has also starred alongside Rishi Kapoor playing his wife in a Bollywood film titled Namaste London. She voices the title role in Ethelbert the Tiger – a children's programme. She also had a role in Doctor Who as a doctor in the episode "The Eleventh Hour".

In July 2013, Wadia appeared in All Star Mr & Mrs. In September 2013, she appeared in ITV's Big Star's Little Star. Since December 2013, Wadia has starred in Still Open All Hours as Mrs Hussein. In January 2015, it was announced that Wadia would have a guest role in Holby City, as an established neurosurgeon Annabelle Cooper. The role will be for five episodes. In April 2017, she appeared as Khadija in Finding Fatimah, a British romantic comedy. In 2019, as a last minute casting call, and in "More of a Cameo" as Wadia said, she played the minor part of "Zulla" in the live action remake of Aladdin directed by Guy Ritchie. In 2020, she appeared in the role of Anna Masani in the ninth season of the popular BBC drama series Death in Paradise. Also in 2020, she had a small part in the fifteen minute drama Isolation Stories alongside Sheridan Smith which was filmed via webcam due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.

From September 2021, Wadia was a contestant for the nineteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing, paired with professional dancer Neil Jones. The couple were the first to be eliminated, in the second week. In February 2023, Wadia appeared in an episode of BBC Four's Spring Walks, exploring Swaledale in North Yorkshire. Then in April 2023, she appeared as Binita Prabhu in the BBC soap opera Doctors.

Stage and radio
Apart from the original radio version of Goodness Gracious Me, Wadia's other radio work includes guesting on Parsons and Naylor's Pull-Out Sections, as well as regular appearances in the BBC World Service soap opera Westway as the pharmacist Namita ul-Haq. In 2001, Wadia voiced the role of Ariel in a BBC Radio 3 production of The Tempest. In 2002, she was due to star in the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Midnight's Children, based on Salman Rushdie's novel, but she quit only weeks before rehearsals were due to begin. In December 2023 - January 2024, for Christmas and New Year, she made her pantomime debut playing Fairy Sugarsnap in Jack and the Beanstalk at the York Theatre Royal from Fri 8th Dec 2023 - Sun 7th Jan 2024.

Personal life
Wadia is married to the composer Raiomond Mirza. The couple first met in Canada and married there in July 1998. They live in Surrey, England. Like Wadia, Mirza is a Parsi and the couple had a traditional Parsi wedding. She is a member of the Wadia family.

Charity
Wadia was involved in the Pakistan Earthquake Appeal Concert and Fashion Show, at the Royal Albert Hall in 2005. She has also been involved in campaigning for Save the Children and for increased organ donation from Asians in Britain. She is a JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) Ambassador.

Honours and awards
Wadia won Best Comedy Performance at the 2009 British Soap Awards, as well as Best On-Screen Partnership at the same awards ceremony for her on-screen relationship with Nitin Ganatra. In 2004, she won the chairman's Award at the Asian Women awards.

In April 2013, she was awarded with the Outstanding Achievement in Television Award at The Asian Awards.

Wadia was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to entertainment and charity.