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
TelevisionYear | Title | Role | Notes |
2013 | Talking to the Dead | Mrs Rattigan | Sky TV |
2010 | The Bill | Grace Dasari | 95 episodes. Talkback Thames |
2006 | Holby City | Camilla | Two episodes: The Bitterest Pill; It's Been a Long Day. BBC Television. |
2006 | This Life + 10 | Milly Naseem | BBC Television |
2004 | Judge John Deed | Rachel Crawcheck | BBC Television |
2004 | Silent Witness | Diana Baker | BBC Television |
2003 | Judge John Deed | Rachel Crawcheck | BBC Television |
2002 | 2nd Generation | Rina | Channel 4 |
2002 | Being April | Nikshita | 6 episodes. BBC Television |
2002 | Grease Monkeys | Mina | BBC Television |
2002 | Happiness | Neela | BBC Television |
2002 | Holby City | Jenny Stephens | Episode: Time to Kill. BBC Television |
2002 | The Inspector Lynley Mysteries | Yumna Malik | BBC Television |
2000 | The Law | Helen Galloway | ITV |
1999 | Dalziel And Pascoe | Kendall | BBC Television |
1998 | Macbeth - Shakespeare Shorts | First Witch | BBC Television |
1998 | The Last Train | Jandra Nixon | 6 episodes. Granada Television |
1998 | McCallum | Delia Vine | Two episodes. STV Productions |
1996-97 | This Life | Milly Naseem | 32 episodes. BBC Television |
1996 | Casualty | Julia Kaash | Episode: Vital Signs. BBC Television |
Stage
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
2012 | Pack | Nasreen | Finborough Theatre - Papatango Festival |
2005 | Whose Life Is It Anyway | Helen Hill | Comedy Theatre |
2002 | After the Gods | Sandi | Hampstead Theatre |
2001 | Feelgood | Aasha | Hampstead/Garrick Theatre |
2000 | The Crucible | Elizabeth | Leicester Haymarket Theatre |
Radio
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
2013 | Invasion - Dangerous Visions | Jenna | BBC Radio 4 Drama |
2013 | Skios | Annuka Vos | BBC Radio 4 Drama |
2013 | The Aeneid | Anna | BBC Radio 4 Drama |
2013 | When Greed Becomes Hunger | Sunita | BBC Radio 4 Drama |
1997 | Devices And Desires | Caroline Amphlette | BBC Radio |
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
2006 | Acts of God | DI Mansfield | |
1998 | 24 Hours in London | Helen Lucas | |
1994 | Indian Tales | Lead | Student film written and directed by Asif Kapadia, Oscar winning director of Amy |
Voiceover
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
2002 | John Adams: A Portrait and a Concert of American Music | Narrator | |
2001 | Dream | Sarah | |
1999 | The Canterbury Tales/The Squire’s Tale | Canacee | Animated film |