Afshan Noor Azad-Kazi (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Azad; born 12 February, 1988) is a British actress, model, and media personality. She is best known for playing the role of

Padma Patil Dumbledore's Army (or D.A. for short) is a fictional student organisation in J. K. Rowling's ''Harry Potter'' series that is founded by the main characters, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, to stand up against the regime of Hogwa ...

in the ''Harry Potter'' film series, beginning in 2005 with ''

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the fourth novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It follows Harry Potter, a wizard in his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and W ...

''.

Early life and education

Azad was born in

Longsight Longsight is an inner city suburb of Manchester, England, located south of the city centre. It is bounded by Ardwick and West Gorton to the north; Levenshulme to the south; and Chorlton-on-Medlock, Victoria Park and Fallowfield to the west. ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England and is of Bangladeshi descent. She attended Whalley Range High School, and took AS-levels in chemistry, biology, English and business studies at

Xaverian College Xaverian College is a Roman Catholic college in Manchester, England, south of the city centre in Rusholme. Established in 1862, Xaverian College has become one of the most oversubscribed Sixth form college in Greater Manchester, along with Lore ...

Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, England, two miles south of the city centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorlton-on-Medlock to the north, Victoria Park and Longsight to the east, Fallo ...

. She went on to graduate with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in Journalism and Design from the

University of Salford , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

Career

Azad is known for her performances as

in five of the ''Harry Potter'' films, starting with 2005's ''

''. She acquired the role when casting agents visited her school and, after having attended several auditions, chose her for the part. Azad had stated that she had auditioned "just for the fun of it" and surprisingly got the part. In 2017, Azad guest presented an episode of the

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

series '' Marrying Mum & Dad'' with

Ed Petrie Edward Oliver James "Ed" Petrie (born 22 August 1978) is an English actor, comedian, and television presenter. Early life Petrie was born and raised in Rustington, West Sussex. He was educated at Broadwater Manor in Worthing, West Sussex, and ...

whilst

Naomi Wilkinson Naomi Laura Wilkinson (born 30 June 1974, in Bristol, England) is an English television presenter and actress. Career Wilkinson was a presenter of ''Milkshake!'', the early-morning programming block for young children on Channel 5 and ''Fi ...

was away.

Personal life

Azad married Nabil Kazi on 19 August 2018. They are based in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

. On 11 April 2021, the couple announced they were expecting their first child. On 27 July 2021, Azad revealed in an Instagram post that she has given birth to her first child, a baby girl.

Assault court case

When she was 22, Azad's father and brother attacked her because of her relationship with a Hindu boy. On 29 June 2010 Azad's father, Abdul Azad, and brother, Ashraf Azad, appeared in Manchester

Magistrates' Court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Cour ...

, charged with threatening to kill her. They were released on bail. Azad's brother was charged with "assault occasioning actual bodily harm", whilst Azad stayed with friends in London. On 20 December 2010, Azad did not attend court when the prosecution accepted her brother's guilty plea to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and a judge ruled both men were not guilty of threatening to kill Azad. On 21 January 2011 Azad's brother was imprisoned for six months.

Filmography

Film Video games Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Azad, Afshan Living people 1988 births 21st-century English actresses Actresses from Manchester Alumni of the University of Salford British Internet celebrities English actresses of South Asian descent English child actresses English female models English film actresses English Muslims English people of Bangladeshi descent People from Longsight