Meera Syal CBE (born Feroza Syal, June 27, 1961) is a British comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, and actress best known for Yesterday (2019), Beautiful Thing (1996), and Absolutely Anything (2015).
She was married to Shekhar Bhatia, currently married to actor/comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar, and has two children, one with Bhatia and one with Bkaskar.
Filmography
Film Roles
- 1984: Majdhar as Rehana
- 1987: Bureaucracy Of Love as Devi Kumar
- 1987: Sammy And Rosie Get Laid as Rani
- 1992: Gummed Labels as Mira
- 1995: Jack And Jeremys Police 4 as various
- 1996: Beautiful Thing as Miss Chauhan
- 1997: Sixth Happiness as Breathing Generator
- 1997: Flight as Tasleema
- 1998: Girls Night 1998 as Carmen
- 2000: Forgive And Forget as Judith Adams
- 2000: Aladdin as High Priestess
- 2002: Anita And Me as Auntie Shaila (also writer and producer)
- 2003: Christmas With The Stars as Sushil 'Ummi' Kumar
- 2004: The All Star Comedy Show as various
- 2005: The Secretary Who Stole 4 Million as Joyti De-Laurey
- 2006: The Childrens Party At The Palace as Mary
- 2006: Scoop as Joe's Co-Passenger
- 2007: Jhoom Barabar Jhoom as Satvinder's mother
- 2009: Mad Sad And Bad as Rashmi
- 2009: Desert Flower as Pushpa Patel
- 2010: You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger as Dia's Mother
- 2012: All In Good Time as Lopa
- 2013: Bollywood Carmen as Lily P
- 2014: The Boy In The Dress as Jaspreet
- 2015: Absolutely Anything as Fiona
- 2015: National Theatre Live Behind The Beautiful Forevers as Zehrunisa Husain
- 2015: Amar Akbar And Tony as Honey
- 2016: Alice Through the Looking Glass as Nobody
- 2016: Branagh Theatre Live Romero And Juliet as Nurse
- 2016: Doctor Strange (2016) as Dr. Patel
- 2017: Paddington 2 as Prosecutor
- 2018: Patrick The Pug as Head Teacher Phillips
- 2018: To Provide All People as District Nurse
- 2018: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms as Cook
- 2018: Nativity Rocks! as Nina
- 2019: Yesterday as Sheila Malik
- 2020: Dragon Rider as Subisha Gulab
- 2021: Spin as Asha]
- 2021: Samosa And Sons as Rai Bahadur
Television Roles
- 1985: The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 Three Fourths as Mrs. Singh
- 1985: Black Silk as Mumtaz Khan (also writer)
- 1986: To Have And To Hold as Janine
- 1987: A Little Princess as Anna
- 1988: Ruth Rendell Mysteries as Matron
- 1990: Boon as Council Supervisor
- 1991-1992: Kinsey as Val
- 1991-1996: The Real Mc Coy as various (20 episodes)
- 1992: Taggart as Sharon Lal
- 1992-1996: Screen Two as Reporter/Ranting Woman/Farah Khan (3 episodes)
- 1993: Seans Show as Trudy
- 1994: Absolutelyl Fabulous as Suzy
- 1994: Siren Spirits as Unumma
- 1994-1995: The Bill as Miss Choudry/Linda/Solicitor/Woman in Street (5 episodes)
- 1995: Band Of Gold as Anne Denver
- 1995: Degrees Of Error as Dr. Jean Lowell
- 1995: Soldier Soldier as Sangita Sharma
- 1996: Drop the Dead Donkey as Barmaid
- 1997: Holding On as Zita
- 1997-1998: Keeping Mum as Tina Beare
- 1998-2015: Goodness Gracious Me as various
- 2000: The Mrs Bradley Mysteries as Madam Marlene
- 2000: The Strangerers as Volunteer
- 2000: Single Voices as Kamla (also writer)
- 2000: Fat Friends as Aysha Kapoor
- 2001: In Deep as Marta Drustic
- 2001: Bedtime as Ruby
- 2001: Double Income No Kids Yet as Katie
- 2001-2006: The Kumars At No 42 as Sushil 'Ummi' Kumar
- 2003: Top of the Pops as Sushil 'Ummi' Kumar
- 2003: Children in Need as Sushil 'Ummi' Kumar
- 2014: The Kumars as Sushil 'Ummi' Kumar
- 2002: All About Me as Rupinder
- 2003: Linda Green as Sukie
- 2003-2009: Horrible Histories as Storyteller (10 episodes)
- 2004: Bad Girls as Janan Hamad
- 2005: MIT Murder Investigation Team as DCI Anita Wishart
- 2005: Life Isnt All Ha Ha Hee Hee as Sunita (also writer and producer)
- 2006: The Amazing Mrs Pritchard as Liz Shannon
- 2007: Kingdom as Headteacher
- 2007: Jekyll as Miranda
- 2008: Uncle Max as Snooty Neighbour
- 2008-2009: Beautiful People as Aunty Hayley
- 2009: Minder as Jess Robinson
- 2009: Grandpa in My Pocket as Mrs. Pointy Pencil
- 2009: Holby City as Tara Sodi
- 2009-2010: Phineas and Ferb as Louisa Patel/various (2 episodes)
- 2010: Doctor Who as Nasreen Chaudhry
- 2011: Tinga Tinga Tales as Owl
- 2011: The Jury 2002 as Head Teacher
- 2012: Hunted as Fatima Zahir
- 2013: Love Matters as Kuldip
- 2013: Family Tree as Chitra
- 2014: Silk as Aisha Wiseman
- 2014: The Job Lot as Jamina McNulty
- 2014: Psychobitches as Hera
- 2015: Broadchurch as Judge Sonia Sharma
- 2015: The Brink as Naeema
- 2015: New Tricks as Baroness Samira Khan
- 2016: Midsomer Murders as Clara Myerscough
- 2016: The Musketeers as Theresa
- 2017: Riviera as Sonya Roche
- 2018-2022: The Split as Goldie
- 2020: Kate And Koji as Dr. Ayesha Radwan
- 2020: Unprecedented Real Time Theatre From A State Of Isolation as Alice
- 2020: Comedians Home Alone as Reena
- 2021: Back to Life as Gaia
- 2021: Code 404 as Elizabeth Churchland
- 2021: Beena And Amrit as Amrit
- 2022: Roar as Anu
Shorts
- 1988: Crash Course 1988 as Guest
- 1991: A Nice Arrangement as Sita (also writer)
- 1993: Its Your Choice Selection Skills For Managers as Interviewee #1
- 1994: Memsahib Rita as Unumma
- 1995: Its Not Unusual as Shushila
- 1999: The Comedy Trail A Shaggy Dog Story as Charlotte Cooper/Sashi Kapoor
- 2014: Playback as Mala Mistry (also writer)
- 2016: The Complete Walk The Two Gentlemen Of Verona as Lucetta
- 2017: Brexit Shorts Just AT Shirt as Priti (also writer)
- 2018: Relativity as Mysterious woman
- 2018: The Homestay as Meera
Writer
- 1987: Tandoori Nights
- 1991-1996: The Real Mc Coy (5 episodes)
- 1992: Screen Two
- 1993: Bhaji On The Beach
- 1999-2015: Goodness Gracious Me (3 episodes)
- 2002: Bombay Dreams
- 2010: Little Crackers
- 2017: LITPD
