Meera Syal
Biography
Meera Syal is an English actress, writer, comedian and playwright who grew up in Essington, Staffordshire, and studied English and drama at Manchester University. While a student she co-wrote the one-woman play One of Us, performing all fifteen parts; its success at the Edinburgh International Festival led to a contract at the Royal Court Theatre. She wrote the screenplay for Bhaji on the Beach (1993) and played Miss Chauhan in Beautiful Thing (1996). She was part of the team behind the sketch show Goodness Gracious Me (1996 to 2001) and played the grandmother Sushila in The Kumars at No. 42. Later screen work includes Absolutely Anything (2015), Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) and Yesterday (2019). She won the Betty Trask Award for her novel Anita and Me and received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2023, along with an MBE, a CBE and a DBE.
65years old
Turns 66 on June 27in 257 days
- Born Wolverhampton
- Star sign: CancerThe sign runs June 21 to July 22
- Feroza Syal (birth name)
Movie Career
- Films
- 15
- Career span
- 38 years1987 to 2025
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First role
Syal co-wrote One of Us with Jackie Shapiro, a one-woman play in which she took all fifteen parts. It won a prize at the National Student Drama Festival and another at the Edinburgh International Festival, and a Royal Court Theatre director offered her a three-year contract.
Behind the camera
For the 1993 movie Bhaji on the Beach, Syal wrote the screenplay. Gurinder Chadha directed that film and would go on to direct Bend It Like Beckham.
Behind the camera
Syal worked as a scriptwriter on the musical Bombay Dreams, which was created by A. R. Rahman and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Beyond film
Syal reached number one on the charts with Gareth Gates and her Kumars at No. 42 co-stars on "Spirit in the Sky", the Comic Relief single.
Beyond film
Syal lent her vocals in 1988 to a bhangra take on "Then He Kissed Me" by Biddu and Pakistani pop star Nazia Hassan, singing with the short-lived girl group Saffron.
Meera Syal movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Sanjeev Bhaskar appears in four of them, more than any other actor. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Sanjeev Bhaskar's page
Timothy Spall's page
Stephen Fry's page
Rebel Wilson's page
Freddie Highmore's page
Robert Bathurst's page
Box office
What Meera Syal's films earned in cinemas worldwide.
Combined worldwide box office
$694 million
8 of the 14 films have a worldwide figure.
Of the 14 films: 8 worldwide figure; 4 us gross only; 1 never in cinemas; 1 too new to count.
- 8Worldwide figure
- 4US gross only
- 1Never in cinemas
- 1Too new to count
Highest grossing
The eight biggest films earned 100% of the total. The bars are drawn to scale.
- 1$299M43.2% of the total
- 2$174M25.1% of the total
- 3$155M22.3% of the total
- 4$39M5.7% of the total
- 5$15M2.1% of the total
- 6$6.3M0.9% of the total
- 7$3.9M0.6% of the total
- 8$1.5M0.2% of the total
Awards
Six awards and honors from 1996 to 2026, one of them major.
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| BAFTA | |||
| 2023 | Fellowship | Won | |
| Other honors | |||
| 2026 | Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire | Won | |
| 2016 | Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature | Won | |
| 2015 | Commander of the Order of the British Empire | Won | |
| 1997 | Member of the Order of the British Empire | Won | |
| 1996 | Betty Trask Award | Won | |
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.