   shobna gulati (born 7 august 1966www.shobnagulati.co.uk, shobna gulati official website) is a british actress, writer, and dancer, best known for playing anita in victoria wood's dinnerladies and sunita alahan in the long-running soap opera coronation street from 2001 to 2006, a role to which she returned at the end of 2009 and departed again in 2013. from 13 march 2013, gulati has appeared as a panellist on the lunchtime chatshow loose women. gulati is also known for being one of very few actors to have appeared in both coronation street and its rival series eastenders for the bbc (in 2000). ==early life== 150px|right|thumb|shobna gulati in 2007.gulati was born in oldham, lancashire to parents of hindu indian descent. she has a degree in arabic and middle eastern politics from the university of manchester. ==career== one of gulati's earliest appearances was as a dancer in the video for boy george's 1991 single "bow down mister." in the late 1990s, she received excellent reviews for her work in victoria wood's bbc sitcom dinnerladies; in 2001, she appeared in the short film shadowscan, directed by tinge krishnan, which won a bafta award; and, in 2004, gulati was nominated for a manchester evening news theatre award for her work in the play dancing within walls, which was staged at the contact theatre in manchester. gulati has also appeared on the tv quiz shows call my bluff, have i got news for you, the weakest link, russian roulette and as diana ross in celebrity stars in their eyes. in early 2006, gulati took part in the reality tv series soapstar superstar. after gulati left coronation street initially in 2006, gulati played nisha clayton, a recurring role in the final series of where the heart is and made appearances in new street law and the one-off comedy drama magnolia which was written by dave spikey for the bbc's comedy playhouse series. in october 2006, gulati appeared at the royal albert hall as part of a short skit featured in the secret policeman's ball. in the skit, gulati and co-star nitin ganatra play a holidaying couple who are under the mistaken belief [[guantanamo bay det
1966_births Actresses_of_Indian_descent Alumni_of_the_University_of_Manchester British_Hindus British_actresses_of_South_Asian_descent British_female_dancers English_people_of_Indian_descent English_soap_opera_actresses English_television_actresses Living_people Participants_in_British_reality_television_series People_from_Oldham