Rakhee Thakrar (born 29 February 1984) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as

Shabnam Masood Shabnam Masood (also Kazemi) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Zahra Ahmadi from 2007 to 2008,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 ...

soap opera ''

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 ...

'' (2014–2016) and Emily Sands in 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 ...

comedy-drama ''

Sex Education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...

'' (2019–2021). She also voices the Eighth Doctor's companion Bliss in Big Finish's ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

: The Time War'' audio dramas.

Early life

Thakrar grew up in the city of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, England and is 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 attended

Soar Valley College Soar Valley College is an 11-16 co-educational comprehensive secondary school in Leicester, Leicestershire, England. It was designated a Maths and Computing specialist college in September 2004. As part of the Building Schools for the Fu ...

. As a teenager, Thakrar became involved with Hathi Productions, a theatre club based in Leicester.

Career

Acting

In 2004, Thakrar landed the role of Roopa Chauhan in the

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

Silver Street ''Silver Street'' is a radio soap opera broadcast on the BBC Asian Network from 24 May 2004 to 26 March 2010. It was the first soap to be aimed at the British South Asian community, Broadcast history It was introduced in 2004 as part of the S ...

'', which was broadcast on the

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has ...

. Thakrar played the role from the first episode in 2004, to the last episode in 2010. In 2006, Thakrar made her first TV appearance in BBC drama '' Banglatown Banquet''. Thakrar went on to feature in a number of TV series including ''

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 ** ...

'', '' Holby City'', ''

Peep Show A peep show or peepshow is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot. Several historical media provided voyeuristic entertainment through hidden erotic imagery. Before the development of the c ...

'' and, notably, played a lead character in the

British-Asian British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British citizens of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian/Asian Bri ...

drama ''Cloud 9''. Thakrar was cast in ''

'' in 2013 and made her first on-screen appearance on 13 January 2014. Her character,

Shabnam Masood Shabnam Masood (also Kazemi) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Zahra Ahmadi from 2007 to 2008,Zahra Ahmadi Zahra Ahmadi ( fa, زهرا احمدی; born 1983) is a British actress from Plymouth England of Persian descent. She is best known for playing the original Shabnam Masood in EastEnders. Career She is known for her role as Shabnam Masood in the ...

from 2007 to 2008. Thakrar's most famous storyline while portraying Shabnam was when the character gave birth to a stillborn son, with viewers, critics and co-workers praising her performance throughout the storyline. Due to her performance in the storyline, Thakrar has subsequently become an ambassador for the stillbirth charity, Sands. Thakrar left ''

'' in 2015 and was last seen onscreen on 5 February 2016, following Shabnam's failed marriage to

Kush Kazemi The following are characters who first appeared, or returned, in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' during 2014 listed by order of first appearance. All new characters in 2014 were introduced by Dominic Treadwell-Collins, executive producer. ...

(

Davood Ghadami Davood Ghadami ( fa, داوود قدمی; born 7 August 1982) is an English actor. Following his appearances in ''Taggart'' in 2010, he appeared in the BBC medical programmes '' Doctors'' and ''Casualty'' in recurring roles. In 2014, he began p ...

). In 2019, she began portraying the role of Emily Sands in the

series ''

''.

Journalism

In 2004, Thakrar was one of 20 young people recruited to the Leicester Mercury's Pathfinder scheme. Run in conjunction with

Leicester City Council Leicester City Council is a unitary authority responsible for local government in the city of Leicester, England. It consists of 54 councillors, representing 22 wards in the city, overseen by a directly elected mayor. It is currently control ...

, it enabled a team of young journalists to spend 10 months gaining an introduction to print journalism and reporting on their communities. During this time Thakrar wrote articles on subjects such as the influence

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

has had on Leicester, as well as the peculiar situation of being born on

29 February February 29, also known as leap day or leap year day, is a date added to leap years. A leap day is added in various solar calendars (calendars based on the Earth's revolution around the Sun), including the Gregorian calendar standard in mo ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Stage

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thakrar, Rakhee Living people 1984 births People from Leicester English people of Indian descent English soap opera actresses British radio actresses