Meera Syal

Meera Syal
CBE FRSL
Syal at the 7th Asian Awards in 2017
Born
Feroza Syal

(1961-06-27) 27 June 1961 (age 63)
Wolverhampton, England
EducationQueen Mary's High School
Alma materUniversity of Manchester
Occupation(s)Comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, actress
Years active1983–present
Spouses
  • Shekhar Bhatia
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1989; div. 2002)​
  • ​
    (m. 2005)​
Children2
Meera Syal's voice
from the BBC programme Front Row, 30 April 2013.[1]

Meera Syal CBE FRSL (born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is an English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and by portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No. 42. She has become one of the UK's best-known Asian personalities.

She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1997 New Year Honours and in 2003 was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.[2][3] She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to drama and literature.[4][5]

In 2023, she was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship.[6]

  1. ^ "Meera Syal". Front Row. 30 April 2013. BBC Radio 4. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  2. ^ "University of Roehampton – Honorary Degrees". Roehampton.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  3. ^ "The 50 funniest people in Britain (part two) | Stage | The Observer". The Guardian. Theguardian.com. 7 December 2003. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  4. ^ "No. 61092". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 2014. p. N10.
  5. ^ 2015 New Year Honours List Archived 2 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hall was invoked but never defined (see the help page).