Rakhee Thakrar (born 29 February 1984) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Shabnam Masood in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders (2014–2016) and Emily Sands in the Netflix comedy-drama Sex Education (2019–2023). She also voices the Eighth Doctor's companion Bliss in Big Finish's Doctor Who: The Time War audio dramas.
Early life and education Thakrar was born on a Leap Year Day in 1984, and grew up in the St Matthew's area of Leicester, England. She is of Indian descent, and both parents worked in factories.
She attended Taylor Primary School and Soar Valley College. She took drama as a GCSE subject and acted in a play at the Phoenix Theatre. As a teenager, Thakrar became involved with Hathi Productions, a theatre club based in Leicester run by Jez Simons, her drama teacher, who has written for EastEnders.
She was going to study textile design, but decided to take a year out, which led to several roles on the stage as well as learning a lot about the theatre production.
Career Acting In 2004, Thakrar landed the role of Roopa Chauhan in the radio drama Silver Street, which was broadcast on the BBC Asian Network. Thakrar played the role from the first episode in 2004, to the last episode in 2010. In 2006, Thakrar made her first TV appearance in BBC drama Banglatown Banquet. Thakrar went on to feature in a number of TV series including Doctors, Holby City, Peep Show and, notably, played a lead character in the British-Asian drama Cloud 9.
Thakrar was cast in EastEnders in 2013 and made her first on-screen appearance on 13 January 2014. Her character, Shabnam Masood, had previously been played by Zahra Ahmadi from 2007 to 2008. Thakrar's most famous storyline while portraying Shabnam was when the character gave birth to a stillborn son, with viewers, critics and co-workers praising her performance throughout the storyline. Due to her performance in the storyline, Thakrar has subsequently become an ambassador for the stillbirth charity, Sands. Thakrar left EastEnders in 2015 and was last seen onscreen on 5 February 2016, following Shabnam's failed marriage to Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami).
In 2019, she began portraying the role of Emily Sands in the Netflix comedy drama series Sex Education. (2019–2023).
She also voices the Eighth Doctor's companion Bliss in Big Finish's Doctor Who: The Time War audio dramas.
Journalism In 2004, Thakrar was one of 20 young people recruited to the Leicester Mercury's Pathfinder scheme. Run in conjunction with Leicester City Council, it enabled a team of young journalists to spend 10 months gaining an introduction to print journalism and reporting on their communities. During this time, Thakrar wrote articles on subjects such as the influence Bollywood has had on Leicester, as well as the peculiar situation of being born on 29 February.
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 2006 Tourettes Haiku Sunny Short films 2007 Circle Tina Parekh 2012 TYU's Company GGS Voice 2016 Juliet Remembered Deena 2017 Those Four Walls Neha 2018 Love, Sex and Side Effects Rosie Short films 2019 Extinction (unknown) End-O Dr. Womaan 2020 23 Walks Registrar Summerland Mrs. Evans Running Naked Jade 2023 My Happy Ending Imaan Wonka Lottie Bell 2024 September Says Sheela Spirit of Place (unknown) Short films Mouse! Priya
Television Year Title Role Notes 2006 Banglatown Banquet Rozena Television film 2007 Doctors Safeena Abbasi Series 9; episode 37: "Losing It All" 2009 No Signal! Various Episode 7 2010 Doctors Jasmin Sharma Series 12; episode 30: "Pound of Flesh" 2010–2011 Holby City Sarita Dubashi Series 13; episodes 3, 4 & 17 2011 Page Eight Muna Hammami Television film DCI Banks Lab Assistant Series 1; episode 3: "Playing with Fire: Part 1" The Jury Rashid's Sister Series 2; episode 1 2012 Peep Show Waitress Series 8; episode 2: "Business Secrets of the Pharaohs" Bollywood Carmen Tannishta - The Fiancée Television film 2013 Cloud 9 Simran Regular role; 112 episodes 2013–2014 Invizimals Jazmin (voice) Episodes 1–13 2014–2016 EastEnders Shabnam Masood/Kazemi Regular role; 172 episodes 2014, 2015 Children in Need 2 television specials 2019–2023 Sex Education Emily Sands Series 1–4; 18 episodes 2019 Four Weddings and a Funeral Fatima Miniseries; episodes 4–8 & 10 2020 Criminal: UK Nasreen Shah Series 2; episode 1: "Julia" 2021 The Girl Before Mia Miniseries; episodes 1–4 2022 Rules of the Game Maya Benshaw Episodes 1–4 2022, 2025 Karen Pirie Bel Richmond Series 1 & 2; 6 episodes 2024 Finders Keepers DS Carole Doyle Miniseries; episodes 1 & 2 2025 I, Jack Wright Laura Johnstone Episodes 1–6 Man Like Mobeen Leila Series 5; episodes 1 & 2: "Tainted Love" & "No Diggity"
Video games Year Title Role Notes 2013 Invizimals: The Alliance Jazmin (voice)
Stage Year Title Role Notes 2017 Astronauts of Hartlepool Nadia Vault Festival 2018 There or Here Neera Park Theatre, London2022Paradise Now!LaurieBush Theatre, London2026The OresteiaChandraBridge Theatre, London
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Result 2014 TV Choice Awards Best Soap Newcomer 2015 Inside Soap Awards Best Actress Asian Media Awards Best TV Character Digital Spy Reader Awards Best Actor 2016 21st National Television Awards Serial Drama Performance 2016 British Soap Awards Best Actress
References
External links