Preeya Kalidas

Nefertiti · May 10, 2010

Preeya Kalidas (born 1980) is a British singer/actress. She is best known for her roles in the films East Is East and Bend It Like Beckham and the soap opera EastEnders, playing Amira Shah.

Born in Isleworth, she was raised in Twickenham, south-west London. The daughter of an independent financial adviser father, and mother who works for British Airways, she started ballet classes at the age of three, and tap at five. She then trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London.

She trained at Songtime Theatre Arts, where her love of acting really began.

Kalidas first appeared on screen in the drama Googleyes. She then went on to play Usha in a short film called Jump Boy in 1998, directed by Menhaj Huda and written by Harsha Patel.

After a number of parts in films and on television, including: East is East, Bollywood Queen, My Family and Casualty, in 2002 she appeared as Monica in Gurinder Chadha's film Bend It Like Beckham.

She then played the female lead Priya in the Andrew Lloyd Webber-produced Bollywood-style hit show Bombay Dreams, written by A.R. Rahman, Meera Syal and Don Black. She then appeared in the BBC Television series Bodies as Dr. Maya Dutta.

In 2007, Kalidas landed the female lead in a West End revival of Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Appearing as the narrator, she performed with Lee Mead, who won the title role of Joseph in BBC One's Any Dream Will Do talent search series.

In late 2007, Kalidas appeared in the multi-award-winning Channel 4 miniseries Britz.

In 2009, Kalidas appeared in the second series of BBC One's Mistresses, and joined EastEnders in April 2009 as Amira Shah, the girlfriend, and later wife of Syed Masood.She has also appeared in Hotel Babylon as Aisha Chaudhri, the daughter of a rich Indian hotel owner.

She also appeared in the music video "Love Is Blind" by Ramzi featuring Ash King and "Lets Work it Out" by Raghav.

In December 2009, Kalidas played the part of Leanne in ITV comedy drama Mister Eleven, alongside ex-EastEnders actors Michelle Ryan and Sean Maguire. In January 2010, Kalidas decided to quit EastEnders to pursue a pop career; her debut single is due to be released in summer 2010.

She will appear in the 2010 Chris Morris feature film Four Lions playing Sofia, the wife of main protagonist Omar (played by Riz Ahmed). The film is due for a UK theatrical release on 7 May. She will also appear in a small role in Gurinder Chadha's new film It's a Wonderful Afterlife.