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Nitin Chandra Ganatra (born 30 June 1967) is a Kenyan-born British actor. He is known for portraying

Masood Ahmed Masood Ahmed is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Nitin Ganatra. The character made his first appearance in episode 3452, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on 16 October 2007. Masood was introduced as p ...

in the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

, ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

''.

Early and personal life

Ganatra was born on 30 June 1967 in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. Both sides of Ganatra's family have origins in

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, India which were explored on-screen in the 2013 series of '' Who Do You Think You Are?'' His great-grandfather arrived in Kenya in the late 1890s, as one of 32,000 contracted labourers to build the

Uganda Railway The Uganda Railway was a metre-gauge railway system and former British state-owned railway company. The line linked the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya. After a series of mergers and splits, the lin ...

. One of under 10,000 to stay in the country after the railway's completion, his grandfather and his father later joined the family's general trading business. After Kenya gained independence from the United Kingdom and forced the native Indian population to choose between Kenya and their British passports in 1971, Ganatra, aged 3, moved with his family to

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, where the family still own a

corner shop A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery tick ...

. Ganatra was educated at Coundon Court School and Community College on Northbrook Road and then studied Drama, Film and Television at the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

. He went on to train under the tutelage of the late Master theatre practitioner

Jerzy Grotowski Jerzy Marian Grotowski (; 11 August 1933 – 14 January 1999) was a Polish theatre director and theorist whose innovative approaches to acting, training and theatrical production have significantly influenced theatre today. He was born in Rzesz ...

. On 17 July 2004, Ganatra and Meera Thakrar were married. They have two children and live in

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

. In April 2019, he was honoured with the Outstanding Achievement in Television award at

The Asian Awards The Asian Awards is an annual award ceremony for the global Asian community which takes place in the United Kingdom, with 14 categories that include business, philanthropy, entertainment, culture and sport. Nominees are selected by an independen ...

. Ganatra was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to drama.

Career

Ganatra is known internationally as Prince Pondicherry in the

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...

film ''

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' is a 1964 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka. The story was originally ...

''. He also appears in the Gurinder Chada film '' Bride and Prejudice'' as Kholi Saab and ''

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 ...

'' as Haroun, and Dev Raja in ''

Mumbai Calling ''Mumbai Calling'' is a British-Indian comedy series, starring Sanjeev Bhaskar, set in the fictional Teknobable call centre in Mumbai. The series was shot on location in India. The pilot first aired on ITV on 30 May 2007. The first series aired ...

''. He also appeared in the first ever iPod commercial. Ganatra also appeared in an episode of ''

The Catherine Tate Show ''The Catherine Tate Show'' is a British television sketch comedy written by Catherine Tate and Derren Litten. Tate also stars in all but one of the show's sketches, which feature a wide range of characters. ''The Catherine Tate Show'' airs on B ...

'', as Joanie Taylor's daughter's partner. Other appearances include the television show '' Jane Hall'', the Patents Clerk in Philip Pullman's The Shadow in the North, 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 ...

television show ''Gina's Laughing Gear'', a character in ''

Meet the Magoons ''Meet the Magoons'' is a six-part comedy television series in the United Kingdom aired on Channel 4 in 2005, directed by and starring Hardeep Singh Kohli. The main characters are a Punjabi family who live in Glasgow, and own an Indian restaurant c ...

'' portraying himself, a semi lead role as Rez, brother of main character Shifty, in the 2008 British cult film ''Shifty'' about a Muslim crack-cocaine dealer, and Martin Soper in ''

Twenty Twelve ''Twenty Twelve'' is a BBC television comedy series written and directed by John Morton. Starring Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Hynes and Amelia Bullmore, the programme is a spoof on-location mockumentary following the organisation of the 2012 Summ ...

''. He also appeared in ''Being April,'' portraying the role of Sinil. On 15 October 2014, Ganatra appeared in an episode of ''

Celebrity Squares ''Celebrity Squares'' is a British comedy game show based on the American comedy game show ''The Hollywood Squares, Hollywood Squares''. It first ran from 20 July 1975 to 7 July 1979 and was hosted by Bob Monkhouse, then—also hosted by Mon ...

.'' On 25 March 2015, he featured in a comedy interview alongside comedian

Paul Chowdhry Tajpaul Singh Chowdhry (Punjabi: ਤਜਪੌਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਚੋਦਰੀ, born 21 August 1974), better known as Paul Chowdhry, is an English comedian and actor. He is of Indian Punjabi Sikh descent. He began his stand up career in 1998 and ...

in which he pretended to lose his temper and "attacked" Chowdhry. His appearance on ''

Pointless Celebrities ''Pointless'' is a British television quiz show produced by Banijay subsidiary Remarkable Television for the BBC. It is hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but obscure answers to ...

'', in which he had to have the rules explained to him by the host, was included in a 2020 special called ''Pointless: The Good, the Bad and the Bloopers''. It was announced in May 2017 that Ganatra would appear in comedy feature ''

Eaten by Lions ''Eaten by Lions'' is a 2019 British comedy film written and directed by Jason Wingard. The film stars Antonio Aakeel as Omar and Jack Carroll as Pete. The film is the feature-length adaptation of the director's 2013 short film 'Going to Me ...

,'' alongside

Antonio Aakeel Antonio Aakeel is an English actor, known for his leading role in the 2018 comedy film ''Eaten by Lions'', for which he was named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow by Screen Daily. He also appeared in ''Tomb Raider'' and the BAFTA award-w ...

and Jack Carroll. He also appeared in the

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 ...

drama ''The State'', portraying the father of a young British Muslim who went to join

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

. In 2020, he portrayed spell science teacher Mr. Daisy in the CBBC series ''

The Worst Witch ''The Worst Witch'' is a series of children's books written and illustrated by Jill Murphy. The series are primarily about a girl who attends a witch school and fantasy stories, with eight books published. The first, ''The Worst Witch'', was ...

''. Trial and Retribution as lawyer. Episode, "The Box" part 2. In 2022, Ganatra also appeared in Episode 4 of the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

Wednesday Wednesday is the day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday. According to international standard ISO 8601, it is the third day of the week. In countries which have Friday as their holiday, Wednesday is the fifth day of the week. In countries ...

'', directed by Tim Burton, as Dr. Anwar.

''EastEnders''

Since 16 October 2007, Ganatra has played regular character

in the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

, ''

''. He also appeared in the 2010 spin-off series '' EastEnders: E20''. Ganatra left ''EastEnders'' in 2016. He made a one-off appearance on 28 November 2017, and returned permanently on 1 January 2018. On 26 January 2019, it was announced Ganatra had decided to leave his role as Masood, and would leave the show later in 2019. Ganatra won 'Best Onscreen Partnership' with

Nina Wadia Nina Wadia (born 18 December 1968) is a British 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 st ...

The British Soap Awards The British Soap Awards (BSAs) are an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom which honours the best moments in British soap operas. The ceremony is televised on ITV and has been presented by Phillip Schofield since 2006. The trophies given ...

in 2009, and was later nominated for 'Best Actor' at the British Soap Awards in 2010.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ganatra, Nitin 1967 births Living people 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Actors from Coventry Alumni of the University of Bristol English male film actors English male television actors English people of Indian descent Gujarati people Kenyan emigrants to the United Kingdom Kenyan people of Indian descent Officers of the Order of the British Empire