imported>Hulmem: Importing Wikidata short description: "British actress" (Shortdesc helper)

2021-08-16T03:38:29Z

Importing Wikidata short description: "British actress" (Shortdesc helper)

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{{Short description|British actress}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Pooja Shah
| image = Pooja Shah.jpg
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption = Actress Pooja Shah
| birthname = Pooja Ashwin Shah<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd%2fb%2f1979%2f3%2faz%2f001367%2f101|title=England & Wales births 1837-2006 Transcription for Pooja Ashwin Shah, Camden, registered 1979, vol. 14, p. 1908|accessdate=13 October 2015|via=[[Find My Past]]|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1979|08|08}}
| birth_place = [[London Borough of Camden|Camden]], [[London]], England
| death_date = 
| death_place =
| othername =
| occupation = Actress
| yearsactive = 2001–present
| spouse = Will Middleton
| domesticpartner =
| children = 2
| website = [https://www.spotlight.com/interactive/cv/4210-9088-6680 Spotlight.com cv]
}}
'''Pooja Ashwin Shah''' (born 8 August 1979 in London, England) is a [[United Kingdom|British]] actress, filmmaker and [[model (person)|model]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.poojashah.com/pooja_shah_model.html|title=Pooja Shah Actress - Kareena Ferreira - EastEnders - Model - Official Site|website=poojashah.com|access-date=2018-04-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211174137/http://www.poojashah.com/pooja_shah_model.html|archive-date=2012-02-11|url-status=live}}</ref> of Kenyan-Indian descent. She is known for her role as Kareena Ferreira in the popular UK [[soap opera]] [[EastEnders]]. Shah works with her husband directing and writing short films and has won three film awards for them.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}

==Early life and career==
Pooja Shah's grandparents migrated to [[Kenya]] from [[Gujarat]] in [[Western India]].<ref name="pooja site bio">{{Cite web|url=http://www.poojashah.com/pooja_shah_biography.html|title=Pooja Shah Actress - Kareena Ferreira - EastEnders Official Site|website=poojashah.com|access-date=2018-04-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180814192706/http://www.poojashah.com/pooja_shah_biography.html|archive-date=2018-08-14|url-status=live}}</ref> Shah trained as an [[Indian classical dance]]r. She attended the [[University of Brighton]], graduating in 2001 with a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] Hons [[academic degree|Degree]] in Theatre with Visual Practice.<ref name="pooja site bio"/>

Shah began her acting career in the theatre and went on to play the lead role of [[Mary Magdalene]] in a small budget film named ''Jesus the Curry King''. The film was produced by the Aylesbury Film Company and was one of the first digital films to be shown in [[movie theatre|cinema]]s in the UK.<ref name="celebagents bio"/>

In 2002 Shah played Meena in the film ''[[Bend It Like Beckham]]''. Later that year she played one of the lead roles, Sinjata Kapoor, in the [[Sky One]] series ''[[Is Harry On The Boat?]]'' based on the best selling book by [[Colin Butts]] and the 2001 film. The story is about holiday reps in [[Ibiza]] and was filmed in [[Almunecar]] in [[Andalusia]], [[Spain]]. The series was positively reviewed by The Guardian, which said that the "cast and crew threw every last drop of talent and energy into the production, making this one of the liveliest bits of youth-oriented drama this year … a sex-crazed hybrid of Baywatch and Boogie Nights."<ref>{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Rupert |date=2001-07-09 |title=Something for the weekend |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/jul/09/tvandradio.television1 |work=The Guardian |access-date=2019-07-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190705092615/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/jul/09/tvandradio.television1 |archive-date=2019-07-05 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Other credits include roles in the BBC hospital drama ''[[Holby City]]'' (2002), and the American series ''[[Adventure Inc.]]'' (2003).

In 2003 Shah was cast in her most notable role to date. She played [[Kareena Ferreira]] in the [[BBC]] [[soap opera]] ''[[EastEnders]]''. The Ferreira family were not well received by critics or viewers and were dismissed as unrealistic by the Asian community in the UK.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/3560/|title=Page Not Found|access-date=2019-07-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190705102401/https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/3560/|archive-date=2019-07-05|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2004 the new executive producer, [[Kathleen Hutchison]], made the decision to axe the entire family in a bid to improve the show, which had suffered from a vast ratings decline.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds16691.html|title=EastEnder accuses BBC of discrimination|access-date=2006-09-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050214092146/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds16691.html|archive-date=2005-02-14|url-status=live}}</ref> Shah subsequently left the show in 2005.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3741454.stm |title=Farewell to EastEnders' Ferreiras |publisher=[[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]] |date=2004-10-13 |location=London |accessdate=2011-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715232634/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3741454.stm |archive-date=2014-07-15 |url-status=live }}</ref>

After leaving ''EastEnders'' Shah has appeared in a short film entitled ''CryBaby'',<ref name="celebagents bio">{{cite web |url=http://www.celebagents.co.uk/Celebs/132/Pooja_Shah.html |title=Pooja Shah |publisher=Celebrity Agents |year=2011 |accessdate=2011-11-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111108035951/http://www.celebagents.co.uk/Celebs/132/Pooja_Shah.html |archivedate=2011-11-08 |df= }}</ref> was a celebrity sponsor on the show ''[[Strictly Dance Fever]]'' and in September 2005 she acted in a feature film called ''Weekend Lovers''.

Shah played the lead role, Sona Virdi, in the play ''Deranged Marriage'', which toured the UK in 2005. In 2006, she took on a lead role in the Britflick ''[[Cash and Curry (film)|Cash and Curry]]'', which was released in 2008. The film also stars [[Ameet Chana]], the actor who played her on-screen brother [[Adi Ferreira]] in ''EastEnders''. In 2007 she played the role of Reshna Dewan in the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] police drama ''[[The Bill]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.eastenders-west.com/|title=502 Bad Gateway nginx openresty|website=eastenders-west.com|access-date=2019-07-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190705102359/https://www.eastenders-west.com/|archive-date=2019-07-05|url-status=live}}</ref>

Shah was a supporting actress in the 2009 and 2010 BBC drama ''[[Missing (2009 TV series)|Missing]]'' with lead, [[Pauline Quirke]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/02_february/26/missing.shtml |title=Missing and Missing Live press pack: introduction |work=Press release |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=2009-02-26 |accessdate=2011-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140622083411/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/02_february/26/missing.shtml |archive-date=2014-06-22 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/02_february/24/missing6.shtml |title=Missing series two press pack: Pooja Shah |work=Press release |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=2010-02-24 |accessdate=2011-11-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104233547/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/02_february/24/missing6.shtml |archive-date=2016-11-04 |url-status=live }}</ref> and starred alongside Brendan Carr in the [[Modern Life?]] feature film ''[[Ten Dead Men]]'' produced by [[Phil Hobden]] and directed by Ross Boyask. In 2010, Shah filmed eight episodes of ''[[Coronation Street]]'', playing DC Moore, a police officer investigating an attack on [[Tracy Barlow]]. The first episode aired on 3 January 2011.

Shah won a Best Actress award in 2010 at the [[Rob Knox]] Film Festival, for her role as Rajinda, a lesbian Indian girl about to tell her parents she is gay, just as they tell her of her arranged marriage to a man who is on his way to meet her.<ref>[https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/8215182.bexley-tom-cruise-sends-best-wishes-to-rob-knox-film-festival/ Bexley: Tom Cruise sends best wishes to Rob Knox Film Festival] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630211527/https://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/8215182.bexley-tom-cruise-sends-best-wishes-to-rob-knox-film-festival/ |date=2019-06-30 }} Linda Piper, www.newsshopper.co.uk, 12 June 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2019</ref>

In 2015, Shah appeared in [[Challenge (TV channel)|Challenge]] idents for [[Wink Bingo]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=891711677520395&id=115487031809534 |title=Pooja Shah fan page |date=2014-11-12 |accessdate=2015-01-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214021508/https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=891711677520395&id=115487031809534 |archive-date=2019-12-14 |url-status=live }}{{Primary source inline|date=December 2019}}</ref> and more recently has featured in [[Class (2016 TV series)|Class]] (a ''[[Doctor Who]]'' spin-off) in 2016 and made another appearance in ''Doctors'' in 2017. She filmed In The Long Run (produced and starring Iris Elba) in 2019.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} Clients that she has undertaken corporate work for include [[Deloitte]], [[Great Western Railway (train operating company)|Great Western Railway]], [[Network Rail]], [[Asda]], [[Transport for London]], [[Lloyds Bank]] and [[Royal Mail]].<ref>[https://www.spotlight.com/interactive/cv/4210-9088-6680 Spotlight - Pooja Shah (Further Credits)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630211529/https://www.spotlight.com/interactive/cv/4210-9088-6680 |date=2019-06-30 }} Retrieved 30 June 2019</ref>

==Personal life==
She married Will Middleton in 2014. He is a director of photography.<ref>[https://www.willcam.co.uk/will-middleton Will Middleton] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701215801/https://www.willcam.co.uk/will-middleton |date=2019-07-01 }} www.willcam.co.uk. Retrieved 1 July 2019.</ref> They have two children.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|name=Pooja Shah|id=1001884}}
*[http://www.poojashah.com/ Official site]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Pooja}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1979 births]]
[[Category:English soap opera actresses]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Brighton]]
[[Category:English Hindus]]
[[Category:English people of Gujarati descent]]
[[Category:English people of Kenyan descent]]
[[Category:British actresses of Indian descent]]

Pooja Shah - Revision history

imported>Hulmem: Importing Wikidata short description: "British actress" (Shortdesc helper)