Shivaani Ghai

Shivaani (or Shivani) Ghai (born 25 April 1975) is an English actress. Early life Ghai is of Indian origin and was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. She grew up in Gosforth and attended Gosforth High School. Later, she went to university, where she gained a BA in film and television studies. Career Ghai began her acting career on the London stage, working for companies such as Man Mela, Rifco and Kali. She moved on to television with minor parts in shows such as Doctors, Spooks and The Bill. In 2003, she was cast as the guest lead in an American adventure series Adventure Inc. alongside Michael Biehn. Later the same year Gurinder Chadha picked Ghai out at a script reading and cast her as the bride and best friend of Ashwarya Rai in Bride and Prejudice. After this, Ghai appeared in BBC shows such as My Hero and Sinchronicity, short films, theatre and commercials. In 2006, she was cast as Sarita Dhavi in Rai Uno's Un medico in famiglia, the popular Italian television programme, when an Indian family was added to the show. She played Sarita Dahvi, which was originally to be cast to an Italian actress of Indian descent, but one could not be found. Ghai could not speak Italian but learnt some scenes for her audition. She became part of the first Indian family on Italian television. After this, Ghai travelled to Tunisia to work on the HBO/BBC co-production House of Saddam, where she played Saddam Hussein's middle daughter Rana. The miniseries aired in September 2008.