Jamila Massey
| Jamila Massey | |
|---|---|
| Born |
7 January 1934 Simla, Himachal Pradesh, India |
Jamila Massey (born 7 January 1934) is a British actress and writer. Massey has had a long career on UK television and radio. She is known for playing Auntie Satya in the long-running radio soap The Archers, Jamila Ranjha in Mind Your Language, and Neelam Kapoor in EastEnders.
Massey came to Britain with her parents in 1946 at the age of 12. Her father fought in the Second World War, but remained in the UK and became a producer for the BBC.
As a child, Massey acted for the BBC in radio children's programmes. She attended King's College London and graduated in Latin, Urdu and English. She had aspirations to train as an actress; however, her mother frowned upon such a career. Massey's mother refused to allow her to attend drama school after the death of her father, so she was forced to use subterfuge to fulfil her acting ambitions.
She began her career as an extra. Her first film role was in Sink the Bismarck! (1960), where she was used to translate and report a news section from the film into Urdu — announcing the sinking of the British battleship HMS Hood.
She continued to work extensively on radio in English, Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi as well as for the German service of the BBC. Years later she acted in Tribunal, a ZDF television serial in German, with leading European actors. She joined the Afro-Asian Committee of Equity and continued to work in film and television. Roles for Asian actors were scarce during her early career, but she was given parts in series such as Crossroads (1964); Within These Walls (1976); The Next Man (1976); Z-Cars (1976–1977); Target (1977); Mind Your Language (1977–79); Play for Today (1977, 1978); Empire Road (1979); Angels (1981); Minder (1982); The Jewel in the Crown (1984); The Bill (1984); Albion Market (1985); Chance in a Million (1986); Madame Sousatzka (1988); Great Balls of Fire! (1989); Brookside (1989) playing Manju Batra and Pie in the Sky (1994).
...
Wikipedia