# Navin Chowdhry

Navin Chowdhry (born 22 November 1971) is an English actor. He may be best known for his main cast roles in Teachers and A Touch of Cloth, and his role as Nish Panesar in the BBC soap opera EastEnders (2022–2025).

## Early life

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.

## Career

At age 16, Chowdhry made his acting debut in the 1988 film, Madame Sousatzka with Shabana Azmi and Shirley MacLaine.
His next major role was as I.T. teacher Kurt McKenna in the successful comedy show Teachers in 2001–2003, 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.
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 where he was strangled by a Slitheen in the episode Aliens of London. 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.
Chowdhry has also produced projects such as the award-winning short film "This Bastard Business" and a short play entitled Mashed.
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 Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
In 2019, he appeared in Sarah Rutherford's play "The Girl Who Fell" at Trafalgar Studios.
In 2022, Chowdhry began playing the previously unseen and imprisoned Nish Panesar in EastEnders. Nish, a manipulative psychopath, first appeared during the final stages of his 20-year prison sentence and was released shortly thereafter.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role |
| 1988 | Madame Sousatzka | Manek Sen |
| 1989 | King of the Wind | Agba |
| 1991 | The Dove's Lost Necklace | Hassan |
| 1993 | The Seventh Coin | Salim |
| 1998 | Surviving Sabu | Amin |
| 2000 | Skin Deep | Norman |
| 2000 | This Bastard Business | Vinod |
| 2001 | On a Life's Edge | Peter |
| 2001 | Landmark | Jaswinder |
| 2002 | Bhangra Heads | Hari |
| 2003 | Teachers Series 3: Behind the Scenes | Himself |
| 2004 | Seafood | Naveen |
| 2007 | A Chaat in the Park | Mahir |
| 2008 | Ny-Lon | Raph |
| 2009 | Skellig: The Owl Man | Mr Watson |
| 2010 | Reunited | Danny |
| 2015 | I Love NY | Ishan |
| 2016 | Ferried | Ahmed |
| 2017 | With Love from Calais | Nav |
| 2017 | Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi | Resistance Cargo Pilot |
| 2018 | Sara Pascoe vs. Monogamy | Himself |
| 2023 | The Effects of Lying | Harvinder |
| 2023 | Wake Up | Sonny |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1993 | London's Burning | Rasheed | Episode: "Series 6, episode 2" |
| 1994 | Schwarz greift ein | Rawi | Episode: "Blinde Wut" |
| 1995 | Crown Prosecutor | Raj Kapoor | Episode: "Series 1, episode 9" |
| 1996 | Casualty | Zafar | Episode: "Land of Hope" |
| 1996 | Gulliver's Travels | Prince Munodi | Episode: "Series 1, episode 2" |
| 1997 | Ruth Rendell Mysteries | Amal | Episode: "The Double" |
| 1997 | Insiders | Jonathan Mason | Episode: "Offending Behaviour" |
| 1997 | The English Programme | Prince Munodi | 2 episodes |
| 1997 | Dalziel and Pascoe | PC Sanjay Singh | 4 episodes |
| 1998 | Animated World Faiths | Balarama | Episode: "The Childhood of Krishna" |
| 2000 | City Central | Tim Anand | Episode: "History" |
| 2001 | Judge John Deed | Colin Gee | Episode: "Rough Justice" |
| 2001–2003 | Teachers | Kurt McKenna | 31 episodes |
| 2002 | Network East Late | Himself | Episode: "Series 2, episode 1" |
| 2002 | Animated Tales of the World | Pawel | Episode: "The Flower of Fern: A Story from Poland" |
| 2003 | Waking the Dead | Rainman | 2 episodes |
| 2004 | NY-LON | Raph | 7 episodes |
| 2005 | The Paul O'Grady Show | Himself | Episode: "Series 3, episode 3" |
| 2005 | Doctor Who | Indra Ganesh | 2 episodes |
| 2005 | New Tricks | Sgt. Pushkar Guha | Episode: "Family Business" |
| 2005 | The Golden Hour | Dr. Naz Osbourne | 4 episodes |
| 2006 | Sinchronicity | Mani | 6 episodes |
| 2009 | Free Agents | Raz | 2 episodes |
| 2010 | Five Days | DC Bilal Choudry | 2 episodes |
| 2011 | The Body Farm | Parvez Khan | Episode: "Series 1, episode 4" |
| 2012 | Mr Blue Sky | Rakesh Rathi | 3 episodes |
| 2012–2014 | A Touch of Cloth | DC Asap Qureshi | 6 episodes |
| 2013 | The Job Lot | Sunil Mitesh | Episode: "Series 1, episode 1" |
| 2014 | Babylon | Sgt. Adeel | 3 episodes |
| 2015 | Doctor Foster | Anwar | 3 episodes |
| 2016 | Midsomer Murders | Sonny Desai | Episode: "Habeas Corpus" |
| 2017 | The Replacement | Kieran | 3 episodes |
| 2017 | The End of the F***ing World | Tony | 5 episodes |
| 2018 | Next of Kin | Kareem Shirani | 6 episodes |
| 2018 | Our Girl | Inspector Chowdhrey | 4 episodes |
| 2019 | Death in Paradise | Andy Spriggs | Episode: "Wish You Weren't Here" |
| 2019 | Thunderbirds Are Go | Cameron | Episode: "Chain Reaction" |
| 2020 | Doctor Who Reviews | Indra Ganesh | Episode: "Is Doctor Who's 'Farting Alien' Episode a Secret Masterpiece?" |
| 2020 | McDonald & Dodds | Pete Wattal | Episode: "The Fall of the House of Crockett" |
| 2020 | Out of Her Mind | Steve | 2 episodes |
| 2021 | Trying | Deven | 5 episodes |
| 2022–2025 | EastEnders | Nish Panesar | 212 episodes |