Parminder Nagra

Parminder Kaur Nagra (born 5 October 1975) is a British actress. She gained prominence through her roles as Jess Bhamra in the film Bend It Like Beckham and Dr. Neela Rasgotra in the NBC medical drama ER (2003–2009). Her other television roles include Meera Malik in the first season of the NBC crime drama The Blacklist (2013–2014) and a recurring role as Ellen Nadeer in season four of the ABC/Marvel series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2016–2017). More recently, Nagra starred as the titular character of the ITV series DI Ray (2022–2024).

Early life and education Parminder Kaur Nagra was born on 5 October 1975 in Leicester, Leicestershire, to Sukha and Nashuter Nagra, who emigrated from India in the 1960s. Her parents separated when she was a young child.

Nagra attended Soar Valley College.

Career

1990s to early 2000s Nagra left Leicester for London and decided not to go to university. Instead she pursued her childhood ambition of becoming an actress. A Tainted Dawn (1997) where she played a Hindu boy accidentally left in Pakistan and brought up by a Muslim couple Fourteen Songs, Two Weddings & A Funeral (1998) where she showed her skills as a romantic comedian, also to critical acclaim Acknowledging Nagra's actual burn-scarred leg, Chadha wrote it into the film.

Nagra received critical and professional acclaim for her performance. She was nominated, and won, several awards, including the FIFA Presidential Award (2002), making her the first woman to have done so.

2002–2019 Not long after filming ended on Bend It Like Beckham, Nagra co-starred in the fantasy romantic comedy Ella Enchanted alongside Anne Hathaway where she played Areida, the best friend of Hathaway's's title character.

While on a promotional junket in Los Angeles for Bend It Like Beckham, Nagra was informed by her agent that John Wells, one of the producers of the NBC medical drama series ER, was interested in meeting her.

Nagra made her first appearance on ER on 25 September 2003, in the tenth-season premiere titled "Now What?" as Neela Rasgotra, a new Yale-educated Anglo-Indian medical student at County General Hospital. Wells adapted the role to suit Nagra, so she could use her own English accent while working. Nagra appeared in twenty-one of the season's twenty-two episodes, including the twelfth episode titled "NICU" and the seventeenth episode titled "The Student", episodes in which her character played a central role. Noah Wyle, announcing his departure from the series in 2004, described Nagra as "the future" of ER, and the media concurred, anointing her as one of the show's "golden girls". In October 2008, following the departures of Goran Višnjić, Maura Tierney, and Mekhi Phifer, Nagra became the longest-serving cast member and lead actor of ER and remained so until just before the series concluded--she left the main cast in the penultimate episode.

When Nagra finished filming the eleventh season of ER in 2005, she returned to her native Leicester to star in Love in Little India directed by Amit Gupta. She was nominated in 2006 for an Asian Excellence Award, in the category of Outstanding Female Television Performance, for her work in ER, and won the award the following year. In 2008, Nagra voiced Cassandra in the DC animated film Batman: Gotham Knight.

She played Miss Lovely in the children's film Horrid Henry: The Movie (2011).

Nagra starred as CIA agent Meera Malik in the first season of the NBC crime drama series The Blacklist from 2013 to 2014.

In 2016, Nagra joined the second series of the psychological thriller Fortitude. In 2018, she joined the second season of the Netflix television series 13 Reasons Why as Priya Singh, the new counsellor of Liberty High.

2020s Nagra starred as the titular character of the ITV series DI Ray. The first series of four episodes aired in 2022, with a second series of six episodes beginning filming in May 2023. and broadcast from 16 June 2024.

Personal life In 1996, while on the set of the play Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards, Nagra met Irish actor Kieran Creggan, with whom she later moved into a flat in Kennington, South London. They were in a relationship for five years. The couple had a son together, but divorced in July 2013.

Nagra was one of the bearers of the Olympic torch as it passed through London on its way to the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Filmography Film + Year Title Role Notes 1991 Dushmani Jattan Di 1999 Park Stories Short film 2002 Bend It Like Beckham Jasminder "Jess" Bhamra 2004 Ella Enchanted Areida 2005 B13 Narrator Voice 2008 In Your Dreams Charlie Batman: Gotham Knight Cassandra Voice 2010 Tere Ishq Nachaya Harpreet, Kamal's Cousin Billed as Parminder Kaur 2011 Horrid Henry: The Movie Miss Lovely 2012 Twenty8k Deeva Jani 2014 Postman Pat: The Movie Nisha Bains Voice 2018 Bird Box Dr Lapham 2019 Five Feet Apart Noor Hamid Piney: The Lonesome Pine Bus Driver Voice 2021 Awaken Rakhi SinghShort film 2023 The Kiss List Asha

Television

+ Year Title Role Notes 1996 King Girl Ayshe TV movie 1996, 1998 Casualty AyishaAsha Guptah Series 10; Episode 18: "Land of Hope"Series 13; Episode 11: "Next of Kin" 1997 Turning World Sabina 3 episodes 1998 Faxbir Babu Frik TV movie 1999 Small Potatoes Nina Episode: "Sexuality" 2000 Goodness Gracious Me Various 2 episodes Donovan Quick Radhika TV movie Holby City Tina Episode: "The Trouble with the Truth" 2001 Judge John Deed Ishbel McDonald Episode: "Exacting Justice" (Pilot) 2002 Always and Everyone Sunita Verma 8 episodes The Swap Hotel Receptionist TV film. Uncredited role 2003 Twelfth Night, or What You Will Viola TV film Second Generation Heere/Sonali Sharma TV movie 2003–2009 ER Neela Rasgotra Main cast (Seasons 10–15; 129 episodes) 2009 Compulsion Anjika Indrani TV film 2010 The Whole Truth Pilar Shirazee Episode: "Liars" 2012 Alcatraz Dr. Lucille "Lucy" Banerjee Main cast; 13 episodes Tron: Uprising Ada Episode: "Isolated", voice 2013 Psych Rachael 4 episodes Reckless Susan TV film 2013–2014 The Blacklist Meera Malik Main cast (Season 1; 21 episodes) 2015 NCIS: Los Angeles Ella Deshai Episode: "Expiration Date" Evil Men Sarah Killas TV film Kingmakers Radha TV film 2016–2017 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ellen Nadeer 5 episodes 2017 Ben 10 Komal Episode: "Drive You Crazy", voice 2017–2018 Fortitude Dr. Surinder Khatri Main cast (Series 2; 9 episodes), voice cameo (Series 3) 2018 Elementary Special Agent Mallick 2 episodes 2018–2019 God Friended Me Pria Amar 5 episodes 2018–2020 13 Reasons Why Counselor Priya Singh 5 episodes 2020 Black-ish Dr Wen Episode: "Hero Pizza" 2021 Intergalactic Arch-Marshall Rebecca Harper Main cast; 8 episodes 2022–2024 DI Ray Detective Inspector Rachita Ray Title character (Seasons 1 & 2; 10 episodes) 2023Maternal Maryam Afridi Main cast; 6 episodes

Recognition and honours The National Portrait Gallery in London holds a pencil drawing of Nagra by Stuart Pearson Wright created in 2004.

She has also been nominated for or won a number of awards for her acting work, including:

Footnotes