Sonal Shah (actress)

Sonal Bhadresh Shah (born 1986) is an American actress and voice artist who may be best known for her recurring role as Dr. Sonja "Sunny" Dey on the series Scrubs.

Early life and education
Shah was born and raised in Wheaton, Illinois. Her parents, Bhadresh and Mrudula Shah, are Gujarati Jains who moved from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India to the United States in 1970.

Shah graduated from Wheaton Warrenville South High School. She was named the 1998 DuPage County Fair Queen in July 1998.

Shah graduated cum laude from Loyola University in Chicago with a major in theatre, minors in psychology, biology and chemistry, and a concentration in pre-medicine. While a student at Loyola, Shah joined the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority. "I sincerely planned to go to medical school," Shah told a Wheaton, Illinois newspaper in March 2009. "I love studying science, but I realized that my passion for performing outweighed my passion for wanting to be a doctor."

After graduation, Shah became a staple in the Chicago Theatre Community and performed with The Tony Award Winning Goodman Theatre among others. She is a founding member of Rasaka Theatre Company, which explores South Asian plays and playwrights, and supplemented her acting education at The Moscow Art Theatre School at Harvard University.

Acting career
Shah moved to Los Angeles in 2006 and began appearing in commercials and sketch comedy. She also has acted with Second City theatres in Chicago and Los Angeles.

In 2009, Shah began appearing on Scrubs as Dr. Sonja "Sunny" Dey, who is one of the young interns newly cast in the show's eighth season. In addition, Shah appeared in the show's webisode series Scrubs: Interns. Shah returns as a guest star on the ninth season of Scrubs, in the fifth episode.

Shah also has a role in the 2009 teen comedy film Ratko: The Dictator's Son, a National Lampoon production.