Biography
Meera Syal is a British actress, writer and comedian. She was born Feroza Syal on 27 June 1961 in Wolverhampton, England, and studied English and Drama at the University of Manchester.
She rose to prominence as part of the team that created the BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me (1996–2001) and for portraying Sanjeev's grandmother in The Kumars at No. 42. In film she played Miss Chauhan in Beautiful Thing (1996) and has appeared in Yesterday (2019), Paddington 2 (2017) and Doctor Strange (2016). She wrote the screenplay for Bhaji on the Beach (1993).
Syal was appointed MBE in 1997 and CBE in 2015 for services to drama and literature. She received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2023. She has been married to actor and comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar since 2005.
