Nitin Ganatra
| Nitin Ganatra | |
|---|---|
Ganatra at the 2011 British Soap Awards.
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|
| Born |
21 February 1968 Kenya |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Television |
EastEnders Mumbai Calling |
| Spouse(s) | Meera Ganatra (2004–present) |
| Children | 2 |
Nitin Chandra Ganatra (born 21 February 1968) is a Kenyan-born English actor, best known for playing Masood Ahmed in the BBC soap-opera EastEnders from 2007 to 2016.
Ganatra was born in Kenya. Both sides of Ganatra's family have origins in Gujarat, which were explored on-screen in the 2013 series of Who Do You Think You Are? His great grandfather arrived in Kenya in the late 1890s as one of 32,000 contracted labourers to build the Uganda Railway. One of under 10,000 to stay in the country after the railway's completion, his grandfather and his father later joined the family's general trading business.
After Kenya gained independence from the United Kingdom and forced the native Indian population to choose between Kenya and their British passports in 1971, Ganatra, aged 3, moved with his family to Coventry, where the family still own a corner shop.
Ganatra was educated at Coundon Court School and Community College on Northbrook Road and then studied Drama, Film and TV at the University of Bristol. He went on to train under the tutelage of the late Master theatre practitioner Jerzy Grotowski.
On 17 July 2004, Ganatra married his wife, Meera. They have two children and live in North London.
Ganatra is known internationally as Prince Pondicherry in the Tim Burton film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He also appears in the Gurinder Chada film Bride and Prejudice as Kholi Saab and The Mistress of Spices as Haroun, and Dev Raja in Mumbai Calling. He also appeared in the first ever iPod commercial. Ganatra also appeared in an episode of The Catherine Tate Show, as Joanie Taylor's daughter's partner.
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