Amita Dhiri


Amita Emmanuelle Dhiri is an English actress. She has also performed ballet, and contemporary and modern dance.

Personal life

Dhiri was born to a French mother, Antonia and Ugandan-Indian accountant father, Vinod Dhiri. Dhiri is a sub caste of the Sood community of Punjab, India. She has two younger brothers, and speaks fluent French and Hindi.
She married Bradley Carroll in 1994 and has two daughters, Maeve and Edana.

Career

Dhiri has said that she was very shy as a child and that this led her into acting, telling the Daily Mirror in 2007 that "There are two extremes. I was paralysed by shyness and then I was doing something where you pretend to be someone else." Her first experience of acting came about when a friend of hers who was at film school had a friend who was doing a film for their degree, and asked Dhiri to be in it.
Before going to drama school, Dhiri sang in a touring cabaret group for about 18 months, doing Tina Turner and Janet Jackson impressions
Her other jobs included working in a designer clothes shop called "Names" in The Lanes, Brighton, being a croupier, and cleaning.

Television

In 1996 she played the role of Jarmila "Milly" Nassim in the acclaimed BBC Two drama series This Life, three years after leaving drama college. Milly was a sensible legal high-flyer who had been in a relationship with Egg, since university. One of her notable scenes was in the last episode, when her character punched her colleague Rachel in the jaw.
She has subsequently had many other appearances on British television, including roles in Absolute Power, The Last Train, Dalziel and Pascoe, Holby City wherein she undertook the role of the raging former partner of General Surgical Consultant Daniel Clifford, Silent Witness, Being April and McCallum. More recently, she had a recurring role as Rachel Crawchek in Judge John Deed.
In early 2007, she reunited with original cast members of This Life in a reunion special called This Life +10.
On 14 June 2007, Dhiri joined the long-running British police drama The Bill as DC Grace Dasari. In preparation for the role, she spent time with Kennington police in South London, and had a lesson in driving a police patrol car. She remained in the show until its final episode, broadcast on 31 August 2010.
In 2013 she played Mrs Rattigan in Sky TV's Talking To The Dead

Film

She appeared in the film 24 Hours in London, released in 2000.

Credits

Television
YearTitleRoleNotes
2013Talking to the DeadMrs RattiganSky TV
2010The BillGrace Dasari95 episodes. Talkback Thames
2006Holby CityCamillaTwo episodes: The Bitterest Pill; It's Been a Long Day. BBC Television.
2006This Life + 10Milly NaseemBBC Television
2004Judge John DeedRachel CrawcheckBBC Television
2004Silent WitnessDiana BakerBBC Television
2003Judge John DeedRachel CrawcheckBBC Television
20022nd GenerationRinaChannel 4
2002Being AprilNikshita6 episodes. BBC Television
2002Grease MonkeysMinaBBC Television
2002HappinessNeelaBBC Television
2002Holby CityJenny StephensEpisode: Time to Kill. BBC Television
2002The Inspector Lynley MysteriesYumna MalikBBC Television
2000The LawHelen GallowayITV
1999Dalziel And PascoeKendallBBC Television
1998Macbeth - Shakespeare ShortsFirst WitchBBC Television
1998The Last TrainJandra Nixon6 episodes. Granada Television
1998McCallumDelia VineTwo episodes. STV Productions
1996-97This LifeMilly Naseem32 episodes. BBC Television
1996CasualtyJulia KaashEpisode: Vital Signs. BBC Television

Stage
YearTitleRoleNotes
2012PackNasreenFinborough Theatre - Papatango Festival
2005Whose Life Is It AnywayHelen HillComedy Theatre
2002After the GodsSandiHampstead Theatre
2001FeelgoodAashaHampstead/Garrick Theatre
2000The CrucibleElizabethLeicester Haymarket Theatre

Radio
YearTitleRoleNotes
2013Invasion - Dangerous VisionsJennaBBC Radio 4 Drama
2013SkiosAnnuka VosBBC Radio 4 Drama
2013The AeneidAnnaBBC Radio 4 Drama
2013When Greed Becomes HungerSunitaBBC Radio 4 Drama
1997Devices And DesiresCaroline AmphletteBBC Radio

Film
YearTitleRoleNotes
2006Acts of GodDI Mansfield
199824 Hours in LondonHelen Lucas
1994Indian TalesLeadStudent film written and directed by Asif Kapadia, Oscar winning director of Amy

Voiceover
YearTitleRoleNotes
2002John Adams: A Portrait and a Concert of American MusicNarrator
2001DreamSarah
1999The Canterbury Tales/The Squire’s TaleCanaceeAnimated film