Shobna Gulati

Shobna has just finished filming the role of Ray in the upcoming feature film Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. She became a household name for her role as Anita in Victoria Wood’s Dinnerladies and as Sunita in Coronation Street. She trained at Manchester University, Trinity Laban, Goldsmith’s College, London, Darpana Academy for Performing Arts, India and has a post graduate in teaching dance from Middlesex University.

Theatre credits include Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith), Richard II (The Globe), Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (The Apollo Theatre), Daisy Pulls It Off (The Park), Anita & Me (Birmingham Rep/Touring Consortium), Grease (Leicester Curve), Mamma Mia International Tour 2015- 2016, Jon Godber’s April in Paris (Derby Playhouse/ National Tour), B!rth, Hunger for Trade, Come Closer Pretend You Have Big Buildings, Cafe Vesuvio (Royal Exchange, Manchester), The Jungle Book, (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Dinnerladies, Girl’s Night (National Tour), The Vagina Monologues (Mark Goucher Ltd), Romeo and Juliet (Leicester Haymarket), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Tara Arts/National Tour) and How High is Up (West Yorkshire Playhouse).

Film credits include Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (New Regency/Film4/Warp Films), Finding Fatimah (British Muslim TV), Junkhearts (Coded Pictures) and BAFTA award winning short film, Shadowscan (BFI).

She has also written and directed the critically acclaimed comedy show for young women The Masala Girls.

Television credits include 4Stories – On the Edge (Blacklight Productions), Doctor Who (BBC), Moving On (LA Productions), River City (BBC Scotland), Treasure Champs (CBeebies), Edith (BBC), Casualty (BBC), Doctors (BBC), Coronation Street (ITV), Hold The Sunset (BBC), In the Club (BBC), Eastenders (BBC), New Street Law (BBC), Magnolia (BBC), Paranoid (ITV1/Red/Netflix), You, Me and Them (UKTV Gold), The Slammer (CBBC), Jackanory (CBBC), Bedtime Stories (Cbeebies), Coming Up (Channel 4), Where The Heart Is (ITV1) and dinnerladies (BBC). As a panellist she was seen on Call My Bluff, Have I Got News For You, Countdown and was a regular on ITV’s Loose Women until 2014. She was a semi- finalist in Celebrity Masterchef for the BBC had appeared in Soapstar Superstar and Stars in their Eyes for ITV.

Documentaries include: River Walks (BBC1), Empires Children (Channel 4), Back In Time For Tea (BBC2), Disappearing and Discovering Britain (More4).

Shobna has also worked extensively as a dancer and choreographer in regional theatres and also in community and education settings across the UK. Between 1992 and 1994 she was a dance animateur for Yorkshire and Humberside,

She has an honorary doctorate from The University of Huddersfield and is Chancellor of The Children’s University, Oldham.