Nitin Ganatra OBE
Ganatra at the 2011British Soap Awards
Born	(1967-06-30)30 June 1967 (age 57) Kenya
Occupation	Actor
Television	EastEnders Mumbai Calling The Worst Witch Wednesday
Spouse	Meera Ganatra ​ (m. 2004)​
Children	2

Nitin Chandra Ganatra (born 30 June 1967^[1]) is a British actor. He is known for portrayingMasood Ahmed in theBBCsoap opera,EastEnders (2007–2019), for which he won aBritish Soap Award.

Ganatra was born on 30 June 1967 inKenya. Both sides of his family have origins inGujarat, India, which was explored on-screen in the 2013 series ofWho Do You Think You Are?^[2] His great-grandfather arrived in Kenya in the late 1890s, as one of 32,000 contracted labourers to build theUganda Railway.^[3] One of under 10,000 to stay in the country after the railway's completion, his grandfather and his father later joined the family's general trading business.^[3]

After Kenya gained independence from the United Kingdom and forced the native Indian population to choose between Kenya and their British passports in 1971, Ganatra, aged 3, moved with his family toCoventry, where the family still owned acorner shop.^[3][4][5]

Ganatra was educated atCoundon Court School and Community College on Northbrook Road and then studied Drama, Film, and Television at theUniversity of Bristol. He went on to train under the tutelage of the late Master theatre practitionerJerzy Grotowski.

Ganatra is known internationally as Prince Pondicherry in theTim Burton filmCharlie and the Chocolate Factory. He also appears in the Gurinder Chada filmBride and Prejudice as Kholi Saab andThe Mistress of Spices as Haroun, and Dev Raja inMumbai Calling. He also appeared in the first ever iPod commercial. Ganatra also appeared in an episode ofThe Catherine Tate Show, as Joanie Taylor's daughter's partner.^[6]

Other appearances include the television showJane Hall, the Patents Clerk in Philip Pullman's The Shadow in the North, theCBBC television showGina's Laughing Gear, a character inMeet the Magoons portraying himself, a semi lead role as Rez, brother of main character Shifty, in the 2008 British cult filmShifty about a Muslim crack-cocaine dealer, and Martin Soper inTwenty Twelve. He also appeared inBeing April, portraying the role of Sinil.^[7]

On 15 October 2014, Ganatra appeared in an episode ofCelebrity Squares.^[8] On 25 March 2015, he featured in a comedy interview alongside comedianPaul Chowdhry in which he pretended to lose his temper and "attacked" Chowdhry. His appearance onPointless Celebrities, in which he had to have the rules explained to him by the host, was included in a 2020 special calledPointless: The Good, the Bad and the Bloopers.^[9]

It was announced in May 2017 that Ganatra would appear in comedy featureEaten by Lions, alongsideAntonio Aakeel andJack Carroll.^[10] He also appeared in theChannel 4 dramaThe State, portraying the father of a young British Muslim who went to joinISIS.^[11] In 2020, he portrayed spell science teacher Mr. Daisy in the CBBC seriesThe Worst Witch, and a lawyer in a two-part episode ofTrial & Retribution.

In 2022, Ganatra also appeared in episode four of season one of theNetflix seriesWednesday, directed by Tim Burton, as Dr. Anwar.^[12] Then in February 2023, he portrayedKamil Razaq in an episode of the BBC soap operaDoctors.^[13]

On 16 October 2007, Ganatra began playing regular characterMasood Ahmed in theBBC Onesoap opera,EastEnders.^[14] He also appeared in the 2010 spin-off seriesEastEnders: E20. Ganatra leftEastEnders in 2016.^[15] He made a one-off appearance on 28 November 2017, and returned permanently on 1 January 2018. On 26 January 2019, it was announced Ganatra had decided to leave his role as Masood, and he left the show later in 2019.^[16]

AtThe British Soap Awards, Ganatra wonBest On-Screen Partnership withNina Wadia in 2009, and was nominated forBest Actor in 2010.^[17][18]

On 17 July 2004, Ganatra and Meera Thakrar were married.^[19] They have two children and live inNorth London.^[20]

In April 2019, he was honoured with the Outstanding Achievement in Television award atThe Asian Awards.^[21]

Ganatra was appointedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the2022 New Year Honours for services to drama.^[22][23]

• Nitin Ganatra atIMDb
• Nitin Ganatra onTwitter

• 1967 births
• Living people
• 20th-century English male actors
• 21st-century English male actors
• Alumni of the University of Bristol
• British people of Indo-Kenyan descent
• English male film actors
• English male television actors
• English people of Indian descent
• Gujarati actors
• Kenyan emigrants to the United Kingdom
• Kenyan people of Indian descent
• Male actors from Coventry
• Officers of the Order of the British Empire
• British male soap opera actors

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