Parminder Nagra

Parminder Nagra
Nagra at the 2012 WonderCon
Born	Parminder Kaur Nagra (1975-10-05) 5 October 1975 (age 41) Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1991–present
Spouse(s)	James Stenson (m. 2009; div. 2013)
Children	1

Parminder Kaur Nagra (born 5 October 1975) is a British film and television actress, known for playing Jess in the 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham and Dr. Neela Rasgotra in the NBC medical drama ER from 2003 to 2009. She has had several other major television roles, including a starring role as Meera Malik in the NBC crime drama The Blacklist from 2013 to 2014 and a recurring role on the ABC/Marvel Television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as Ellen Nadeer for its 4th season.

Nagra was born in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, to Sukha and Nashuter Nagra, they are Sikh factory workers who emigrated from the Punjab region of India in the 1960s. She is the eldest of four children with two brothers and a sister. Nagra attended the Northfield House Primary School in Leicester. At her comprehensive school, Soar Valley College, she played the viola in the youth orchestra and also appeared in her first theatrical productions.

A few months after sitting her A-levels and leaving school, Nagra was approached by Jez Simons, her former drama instructor, about becoming part of the Leicester-based theatre company Haithizi Productions, for which he served as the artistic director. She accepted and was cast as a chorus member in the 1994 musical Nimai presented at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre. Only a week into rehearsals, she was switched from the chorus to replace the lead actress, who had dropped out. Simons recalls that Nagra, a good singer and actress, also had a quality that raised her above other actresses which led him to select her as the new lead.