Nina Wadia

Nina Wadia (born 18 December 1968) is an English actress and comedian. She is known for portraying Zainab Masood in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, Aunty Noor in Citizen Khan, Mrs Hussein in the BBC comedy Still Open All Hours and for starring in the BBC Two sketch show Goodness Gracious Me. Additionally, Wadia appeared in the Hindi-language romantic comedy Namaste London in 2007. She also appeared in the series Origin in 2018 and the BBC soap opera Doctors as Binita Prabhu in 2023. Early life Wadia was born on 18 December 1968 in Bombay, India and is of Parsi ancestry. She has an older brother and older sister; both of her parents have died. When Wadia was nine years old she moved to Hong Kong and was a student at Island School, Hong Kong. Career Television and film Wadia first came to prominence in BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, playing characters such as Mrs "I can make it at home for nothing!" and one half of The Competitive Mothers. She took over from her Goodness Gracious Me co-star, Meera Syal, in the role of Rupinder in the sitcom All About Me alongside Jasper Carrott and Natalia Kills. In 2007, Wadia was cast as Zainab Masood in the long-running BBC soap opera EastEnders. Her last appearance as Zainab in EastEnders was on 8 February 2013. She also had a minor role in EastEnders in 1994, playing a nurse named Viv who treated Michelle Fowler (Susan Tully) when she was hospitalised with a gunshot wound. She also appears as Zainab in the 2010 spin-off EastEnders: E20.