| Navin Chowdhry | |
| Birth Date: | 1971 1, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Bristol, England |
| Height: | 173 cm |
| Alma Mater: | Imperial College London |
| Occupation: | Actor |
Navin Chowdhry (born 1 January 1971)[1] is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Indra Ganesh in Doctor Who, Sunil Mitesh in The Job Lot and as Nish Panesar in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.
Chowdhry is of Indian origin. He was born and brought up in Bristol, England. He is the son of Simi Chowdhry, a well-known female activist. In 1994, he graduated from Imperial College London with an upper second class honours degree in biochemistry.[2]
At age 16, Chowdhry made his acting debut in the 1988 film, Madame Sousatzka with Shabana Azmi and Shirley MacLaine.[2]
His next major role was as I.T. teacher Kurt McKenna in the successful comedy show Teachers in 2001–2003,[3] and is also well known for playing PC Sanjay Singh in Dalziel and Pascoe. He also appeared as a possible rapist in Judge John Deed.
Chowdhry appeared in Waking The Dead, Series 3, Episode 3, entitled "Breaking Glass", opposite Trevor Eve and Sue Johnston. In the episode, he portrays the psychologically affected "Rainman". He then starred in the Channel 4 drama series NY-LON as Raph.[4]
On 30 October 2005, he appeared on stage at the Old Vic theatre in London in the one-night play Night Sky alongside Christopher Eccleston, Bruno Langley, David Warner, Saffron Burrows and David Baddiel. In 2005 he made a guest appearance in Doctor Who, then starring Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor. In 2006, he appeared in the BBC Three drama series Sinchronicity, playing Mani.
In 2009, he appeared in two episodes of the Channel 4 series Free Agents and featured in Skellig. In 2010, he starred in the BBC television pilot Reunited, playing Danny.[5]
Chowdhry has also produced projects such as the award-winning short film "This Bastard Business" and a short play entitled Mashed.[2]
He played Anwar in the critically acclaimed 2015 BBC TV series Doctor Foster and in 2016 he played Sonny Desai in Series 18's first episode of Midsomer Murders.
Chowdhry portrayed Nodin Chavdri in the 2017 film .
In 2019, he appeared in Sarah Rutherford's play "The Girl Who Fell" at Trafalgar Studios.[6]
In 2022, Chowdhry began playing the previously unseen and imprisoned Nish Panesar in EastEnders.[4] Nish, a manipulative psychopath, first appeared during the final stages of his 20-year prison sentence and was released shortly thereafter.
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Madame Sousatzka | Manek Sen | |
| 1990 | King of the Wind | Agba | |
| 1993 | The Seventh Coin | Salim | |
| 1994 | The Dove's Lost Necklace | Hassan | |
| 1998 | Surviving Sabu | Amin | Short |
| 2000 | Skin Deep | Norman | TV film |
| This Bastard Business | Vinod | Short | |
| 2001 | Landmark | Jaswinder | Short |
| 2002 | Bhangra Heads | Hari | TV film |
| 2004 | Seafood | Naveen | Short |
| 2005 | Red Mercury | Asif | |
| 2007 | A Chaat in the Park | Mahir | Short |
| 2008 | Ny-Lon | Raph | TV film |
| 2009 | Skellig | Mr. Watson | TV film |
| 2010 | Reunited | Danny | TV film |
| 2015 | I Love NY | Ishan | |
| 2016 | Ferried | Ahmed | Short |
| 2017 | With Love from Calais | Nav | Short |
| Resistance Cargo Pilot | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | London's Burning | Rasheed | 1 episode |
| 1994 | Schwarz greift ein | Rawi | Episode: "Blinde Wut" |
| 1995 | Crown Prosecutor | Raj Kapoor | 1 episode |
| 1996 | Casualty | Zaf | Episode: "Land of Hope" |
| Gulliver's Travels | Prince Munodi | 1 episode | |
| 1997 | The Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Amal | Episode: "The Double" |
| Insiders | Jonathan Mason | Episode: "Offending Behaviour" | |
| Dalziel and Pascoe | PC Sanjay Singh | 4 episodes | |
| 2000 | City Central | Tim Anand | Episode: "History" |
| 2001 | Judge John Deed | Colin Gee | Episode: "Rough Justice" |
| On A Life's Edge | Peter | TV short | |
| 2001-2003 | Teachers | Kurt McKenna | Series regular |
| 2002 | Animated Tales of the World | Pawel | Episode: "The Flower of Fern" |
| 2003 | Waking the Dead | Rainman | Episode: "Breaking Glass" |
| 2004 | NY-LON | Raph | Mini-series |
| 2005 | Doctor Who | Indra Ganesh | Episode: "Aliens of London" |
| New Tricks | Sergeant Pushkar Guha | Episode: "Family Business" | |
| The Golden Hour | Dr. Naz Osbourne | Mini-series | |
| 2006 | Sinchronicity | Mani | Series regular |
| 2009 | Free Agents | Raz | 2 episodes |
| 2010 | Five Days | DC Bilal Choudry | 2 episodes |
| 2011 | The Body Farm | Parvez Khan | 1 episode |
| 2012 | Mr Blue Sky | Rakesh Rathi | 3 episodes |
| 2012 - 2014 | A Touch of Cloth | DC Asap Qureshi | Series regular |
| 2013 | The Job Lot | Sunil Mitesh | 1 episode |
| 2014 | Babylon | Adeel | Mini-series |
| 2015 | Doctor Foster | Anwar | 3 episodes |
| 2016 | Midsomer Murders | Sonny Desai | Episode: "Habeas Corpus" |
| 2017 | The Replacement | Kieran | Mini-series |
| The End of the F***ing World | Tony | Series regular | |
| 2018 | Next of Kin | Dr. Kareem Shirani | Series regular |
| Our Girl | Inspector Chowdhrey | 4 episodes | |
| 2019 | Death in Paradise | Andy Spriggs | Episode: "Wish You Weren't Here" |
| Thunderbirds Are Go | Cameron | Episode: "Chain Reaction" | |
| 2020 | McDonald & Dodds | Pete Wattal | Episode: "The Fall of the House of Crockett" |
| Out of Her Mind | Steve | 2 episodes | |
| 2021 | Trying | Deven | Recurring role |
| 2022–present | EastEnders | Nish Panesar | Regular role |