Shobna Gulati

Shobna Gulati in 2007

Gulati was born in Oldham, Lancashire, to Hindu Indian parents. She grew up in the Salcombe area of Openshaw, Manchester, where the actress Sarah Lancashire was a friend. They remain friends.[2] She has a degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern politics from the University of Manchester.[1]

One of Gulati's earliest appearances was as a dancer in the video for Boy George's 1991 single "Bow Down Mister". In the late 1990s, she appeared in both series of Victoria Wood's BBC sitcom Dinnerladies. She appeared as Ameena Badawi from October to December 2000 in EastEnders. She appeared in Coronation Street as Sunita and in the same role in "East Street", a crossover between both soaps, as part of the 2010Children in Need 2010 telethon. In 2001, she appeared in the short film Shadowscan, directed by Tinge Krishnan, which won a Bafta Award and, in 2004, 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, Russian Roulette and as Diana Ross in Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes. In early 2006, Gulati took part in the Reality TV series Soapstar Superstar.

After Gulati left Coronation Street for the first time in 2006, she 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 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 sketch, Gulati and her co-star Nitin Ganatra play a holidaying couple who are under the mistaken belief Guantanamo Bay is a holiday resort. The sketch also starred the American actors Chevy Chase and Seth Green.

Gulati was one of the storytellers in a 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, Manchester.

In 2008, Gulati made her debut as a filmmaker, producing the short film Akshay for the motiroti's 60x60 Secs.[3] This was shortlisted for the Satyajit Ray short film awards. During this same period, she returned to her Coronation Street role as Sunita Alahan, where she stayed for three years.[4]

On 11 June 2009, Gulati appeared in the BBC1 programme Celebrity MasterChef. She did the first stage tour of Dinnerladies in early 2009 and she has appeared as a guest story teller for Bedtime Stories on CBBC. In November 2010, Gulati was a guest panellist on ITV's flagship daytime show Loose Women, to celebrate fifty years of Coronation Street and, in April 2012, to celebrate soap week. In June 2011, Gulati was a guest on Countdown. Announcing her departure from Coronation Street, she expressed her desire to write and perform more comedy than her work in a soap opera had permitted her time to do.[4] In 2016, she appeared in the ITV/Netflix series Paranoid. Gulati made a guest appearance in Casualty on 29 October 2016.

In 2017, she appeared as Saba in the British romantic comedy film Finding Fatimah.[5] Also in 2017, she joined the cast of River City where she plays Farah Khurana.

In 2018, Gulati appeared in the Doctor Who episodes "Arachnids in the UK" and "Demons of the Punjab" as Najia Khan, mother of Dr Who's companion Yasmin Khan.[6]

She played Ray in the West End production of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theatre in 2018.[7] Now adapted as a screenplay, Gulati plays the part of Ray alongside Sarah Lancashire. Everybody's Talking About Jamie is due to be released in January 2021.

Remember Me?
Gulati wrote a memoir on losing a parent to dementia based on her experiences caring for her mother, who died in 2019.[8] During publicity interviews for the book, Gulati revealed that she had contracted Coronavirus earlier in 2020.[9]

Gulati is the daughter of K.A. Gulati who arrived in Oldham from Bombay, India, in 1960.[10] She has a younger brother, Rajesh, and two older sisters, Sushma and Hema.[10]

Gulati married the architect Anshu Srivastava in a Hindu ceremony on 10 November 1990 but they divorced in May 1994.[11] She lived separately from her husband and became pregnant with Akshay.[12][13] From 1999 to 2003, she was in a relationship with the ex-Emmerdale actor Gary Turner.[11]

Gulati has a working knowledge of six languages and is a vocal supporter of Asian women's rights and various anti-racism campaigns.[14] She works on female body image issues.[15] She is a supporter and a season ticket holder of Manchester United.[16]

In 2015, she was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester. This gives Her the right to use the Post Nominal Letters "DL" for life.[17]

• Shobna Gulati at IMDb