Navin Chowdhry

Navin Chowdhry (born 22 November 1971) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles in Teachers and A Touch of Cloth, and his role as Nish Panesar in the BBC soap opera EastEnders.

Early life

Chowdhry is of Indian origin. He was born and brought up in Bristol, England. He is the son of Simi Chowdhry, a well-known female activist. In 1994, he graduated from Imperial College London with an upper second-class honours degree in biochemistry.

Career

At age 16, Chowdhry made his acting debut in the 1988 film Madame Sousatzka with Shabana Azmi and Shirley MacLaine.

His next major role was as IT teacher Kurt McKenna in the successful comedy show Teachers in 2001–2003, and then PC Sanjay Singh in Dalziel and Pascoe. He also appeared as a possible rapist in Judge John Deed.

Chowdhry appeared as the psychologically affected "Rainman" in series 3, episode 3 ("Breaking Glass") of Waking the Dead. He then starred in the Channel 4 drama series NY-LON as Raph.

On 30 October 2005, he appeared on stage at The Old Vic in the one-night play Night Sky alongside Christopher Eccleston, Bruno Langley, David Warner, Saffron Burrows and David Baddiel. In 2005, he made a guest appearance in Doctor Who, then starring Christopher Eccleston as The Doctor, in which he was strangled by a Slitheen in the episode "Aliens of London". In 2006, he appeared in the BBC Three drama series Sinchronicity, playing Mani.

In 2009, he appeared in two episodes of the Channel 4 series Free Agents and featured in Skellig. In 2010, he starred in the BBC television pilot Reunited, playing Danny.

Chowdhry has also produced projects such as the award-winning short film This Bastard Business and a short play called Mashed.

He played Anwar in the critically acclaimed 2015 BBC TV series Doctor Foster. In 2016, he played Sonny Desai in the first episode of series 18 of Midsomer Murders.

Chowdhry portrayed Nodin Chavdri in the 2017 film Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

In 2019, he appeared in Sarah Rutherford's play The Girl Who Fell at Trafalgar Studios.

In 2022, Chowdhry began playing the previously unseen and imprisoned Nish Panesar in EastEnders. Nish, a manipulative psychopath, first appeared during the final stages of his 20-year prison sentence and was released shortly thereafter. He played the role for more than two years until January 2025, when his character was killed-off. In 2025, Chowdhry won the British Soap Award for "Villain of the Year" for his portrayal of Nish.

Filmography

Film

Television