Harvey Virdi is a British actress of

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

descent. She trained at

Academy Drama School The Academy Drama School (often referred to as the Academy) was a British drama school in London. It was founded in 1985 and closed in 2007. History The Academy was founded by Tim Reynolds and his wife Judith in 1985 as the Evening Academy of D ...

in London.

Career

Her theatre credits include ''

The Borrowers ''The Borrowers'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author Mary Norton, published by Dent in 1952. It features a family of tiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of an English house and "borrow" from the big people in ...

'' (at the

Sherman Theatre The Sherman Theatre ( cy, Theatr y Sherman) is a venue in the Cathays district of Cardiff. It was built as a twin-auditorium venue in 1973 with financial support from Cardiff University. Sherman Cymru was the name of the Sherman Theatre between 2 ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

), ''Tiger Country'' and ''Tales From The Harrow Road'' (

Hampstead Theatre Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. Roxana Silbert has been the artistic director since ...

), ''When We are Married'', ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vio ...

'' (in 1997 and 2004,), ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'' (in 2000,), ''Square Circle'' and ''Playboy of the Asian World'' (all at the

Leicester Haymarket The Leicester Haymarket Theatre is a theatre in Leicester, England, next to the Haymarket Shopping Centre on Belgrave Gate in Leicester City centre. History The Haymarket Theatre was opened by Sir Ralph Richardson and the opening season started ...

), ''Airport 2000'' (

Riverside Studios Riverside Studios is an arts centre on the banks of the River Thames in Hammersmith, London, England. The venue plays host to contemporary performance, film, visual art exhibitions and television production. Having closed for redevelopment in ...

, Hammersmith), and Jatinder Verma's production of ''Exodus'' (Tara Arts/BAC). In 2003, she was 'Mrs Peachum' in a touring production of ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music ...

'' for the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

. In 2004 she gave a critically acclaimed Maria in an Indian-themed production of ''

'' at the

Albery Theatre Albery is a name. It may refer to: ;People by given name *Albery Allson Whitman (1851−1901), African American poet, minister and orator ;People by surname: * A. S. Albery, British politician *Bronson Albery (1881−1971), English theatre directo ...

. She also appeared as Nina Mandal, in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

''. She was a supporting cast member in two seasons of '' Class Dismissed''. Her film credits include ''

Bend It Like Beckham ''Bend It Like Beckham'' (also known as ''Kick It Like Beckham'') is a 2002 sports comedy-drama film directed by Gurinder Chadha from a screenplay by Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges, and Guljit Bindra. The film stars Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightle ...

'', ''

Anita and Me ''Anita and Me'' is Meera Syal's debut novel, and was first published in 1996. It is a semi-autobiographical novel, based on Syal's childhood in the mining village of Essington, Staffordshire, which won the Betty Trask Award. The story revolves ...

'', '' Thunderbirds'', '' Bride and Prejudice'', ''

The Mistress of Spices ''The Mistress of Spices'' is a 2005 American romantic drama film by Paul Mayeda Berges, with a screenplay by Gurinder Chadha and Berges. It is based upon the 1997 novel '' Mistress of Spices'' by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. The film stars Aishwa ...

'', ''

Honour Honour (British English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of socia ...

'', '' Jadoo'', and ''

Brick Lane Brick Lane (Bengali: ব্রিক লেন) is a street in the East End of London, in the borough of Tower Hamlets. It runs from Swanfield Street in Bethnal Green in the north, crosses the Bethnal Green Road before reaching the busiest ...

''. Television credits include '' The Kumars at No. 42'' (as the family's interfering landlady, 'Hawney'), ''

Boohbah ''Boohbah'' is a British preschool television series created by Anne Wood and produced by Wood's company, Ragdoll Productions, in association with GMTV. It originally premiered on ITV on 14 April 2003. The series was later broadcast on Ni ...

'' (as 'Mrs. Lady'), ''

Doctors Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

'', '' Lucky Man'' (as 'Shefali Malhotra'), and ''Whose Baby?''. She has also appeared in various

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

plays including in 2009, in "The Inheritance Of Loss By Kiran Desai". As a writer, her credits include 'There's Something About Simmy', 'The Deranged Marriage', 'Miss Meena & the Masala Queens' 2017

RIFCO Arts Rifco Arts is a theatre company which focuses on bringing British Asian stories to the stage, and audiences from the community into theatres. The company was founded in 1999 by director Pravesh Kumar. Rifco is an Arts Council National Portfolio ...

, 'Happy Birthday Sunita', 2014

and 'Meri Christmas' 2006

. She appeared in ''

Citizen Khan ''Citizen Khan'' is a British sitcom produced by the BBC and created by Adil Ray. Five series have been shown so far. It is set in Sparkhill, South Birmingham, described by its lead character, a British Pakistani man Mr Khan (Ray), as "the capita ...

'' as regular character 'Mrs Malik'. In May 2017 it was announced Virdi had joined the cast of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

soap ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

'' playing Dr. Misbah Maalik. She departed on 1 June 2020, but this was soon confirmed as a temporary exit, with Virdi returning to the role on 21 September 2020.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Virdi, Harvey British stage actresses British film actresses British soap opera actresses Alumni of the Academy Drama School British actresses of Indian descent Actresses from Coventry Living people Year of birth missing (living people)