8/16/2019 9. Jamila Massey

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Jamila Massey

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Jamila Massey (born 7 January 1934) is a British actress

and writer. Massey has had a long careeron UK television

and radio. She is possibly best known for playing Auntie

Satya in the long-running radio soap The Archers , Jamila

Ranjha in  Mind Your Language, and Neelam Kapoor in

EastEnders .

1 Early life

Massey came to Britain with her parents in 1946 at the

age of 12. Her father fought in the Second World War,

but remained in the UK and became a producer for the

BBC.[1]

As a child Massey acted for the BBC in radio children’s

programmes. She attended King’s College London and

graduated in Latin,   Urdu and   English. She had aspira-

tions to train as an actress; however, her mother frownedupon such a career. Massey’s mother refused to allow

her to attend drama school after the death of her father,

so she was forced to use subterfuge to fulfil her acting

ambitions.[1]

2 Career

She began her career as an extra. Her first film rolewas in

Sink the Bismarck!  (1960), where she was used to trans-

late and report a news section from the film into Urdu

— announcing the sinking of the British battleship HMSHood .[1]

She continued to work extensively on radio in English,

Urdu, Hindi and  Punjabi as well as for the German ser-

vice of the BBC. Years later she acted in Tribunal , a ZDF

television serial in German, with leading  European  ac-

tors. She joined the Afro-Asian Committee of Equity

and continued to work in film and television.[1] Roles

for Asian actors were minor during her early career, but

she was given parts in series such as   Crossroads  (1964);

Within These Walls   (1976);   The Next Man   (1976);   Z-

Cars  (1976–1977);   Target  (1977);  Mind Your Language

(1977–79);  Play for Today   (1977, 1978);  Empire Road (1979);  Angels  (1981);  Minder  (1982);  The Jewel in the

Crown   (1984);   The Bill   (1984);   Albion Market   (1985);

Chance in a Million  (1986);  Madame Sousatzka  (1988);

Great Balls of Fire!   (1989);  Brookside   (1989) playing

Manju Batra and Pie in the Sky  (1994).

In the mid-1990s she was cast as the recurring character

Auntie Satya in Radio 4's daily agricultural soap opera,

The Archers , fulfilling one of her life’s ambitions.[1]

Massey was the second actress to play the role. She had

initially been asked to audition for the part, but was forced

to turn it down due to work commitments. A year later

she was offered the same part when the role was recast.

Her character makes occasional appearances to visit herniece, Usha Gupta (Souad Faress).[1]

In 1997 she was cast in the popular BBC soap opera

EastEnders . She played Neelam Kapoor, the domineer-

ing mother of market-trader Sanjay (Deepak Verma) un-

til 1998.

Other acting credits include   Arabian Nights   (2000);

Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years   (2001);   Perfect 

World   (2001);   Doctors   (2002);   All About Me   (2003);

Chicken Tikka Masala (2005).

Theatre work includes  The Great Celestial Cow   (Royal

Court),   Conduct Unbecoming   which toured  Canada   aswell as the UK,   Song for a Sanctuary   (Lyric Hammer-

smith) and   Women of the Dust   (Tamasha Theatre   and

Bristol Old Vic). She also played Kasturba in Mahatma

versus Gandhi  in the BBC Home and World Services and

Harvey Virdi in Calcutta Kosher , a playon the Indian Jew-

ish Community of Kolkata.[2]

As well as acting, Massey has also co-authored several

books with her husband, writer Reginald Massey. One

was a novel,   The Immigrants , based on field research

among first-generation Asians in Britain. The other books

were  The Music of India, for which Ravi Shankar   pro-

vided a foreword, and  The Dances of India. Massey isdeeply interested and involved in music, she has intro-

duced several Indian musicians and dancers to audiences

in the West.[3]

Massey appeared in  Coronation Street   in February 2010

as one of Sunita’s aunts.

3 Personal life

Massey and her husband, the author and poet Reginald

Massey, live together in Llanidloes, Wales.[1]

1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waleshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanidloeshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_Streethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_Shankarhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolkatahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Old_Vichttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamasha_Theatre_Companyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyric_Theatre_(Hammersmith)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyric_Theatre_(Hammersmith)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conduct_Unbecoming_(play)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Court_Theatrehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Court_Theatrehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_About_Mehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors_(soap_opera)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Mole:_The_Cappuccino_Yearshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_Nights_(TV_miniseries)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepak_Vermahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjay_Kapoor_(EastEnders)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neelam_Kapoorhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EastEndershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souad_Faresshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Archershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_operahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Radio_4https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_in_the_Sky_(TV_series)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooksidehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Balls_of_Fire!_(film)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Sousatzkahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chance_in_a_Millionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion_Markethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Billhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jewel_in_the_Crown_(TV_series)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jewel_in_the_Crown_(TV_series)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minder_(TV_series)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_(TV_series)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_Roadhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_for_Todayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_Your_Languagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_(UK_TV_series)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-Carshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-Carshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Next_Manhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Within_These_Wallshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossroads_(soap_opera)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZDFhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjabi_languagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hood_(51)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Hood_(51)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sink_the_Bismarck!https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra_(actor)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_studieshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urduhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%2527s_College_Londonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBChttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_IIhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdomhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EastEndershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neelam_Kapoorhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_Your_Languagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Archershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_televisionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actresshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Infobox_person

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2   6 EXTERNAL LINKS 

4 Writings

•   The Music of India. London: Kahn & Averill. 1993.

ISBN 1-871-08250-1.

5 References

[1] "Archer’s Actor - Jamila Massey", BBC. URL last ac-

cessed on 2007-03-31.

[2] "Metro Plus Delhi",  The Hindu. URL last accessed on

2007-03-31.

[3] "From India to Llani", BBC. URL last accessed on 2007-

03-31.

6 External links

•  Jamila Massey at the Internet Movie Database

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMDbhttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0557316/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/bookshelf/pages/reginald_massey.shtmlhttp://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2005/02/03/stories/2005020301380400.htmhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/mid/sites/llanidloes/pages/jamila_massey.shtmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1-871-08250-1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number

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7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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