Manjinder Virk

Manjinder Virk is an English actress, director and writer. She has appeared in the television series Holby City (1999), Doctors (2000), The Bill (2004), The Ghost Squad (2005), Runaway (2009), Skins (2010), Monroe (2011), Hunted (2012) and Midsomer Murders (2016 –2018).

Manjinder Virk
Virk in Out of Darkness, 2012 short film
Born	Coventry, England, UK
Nationality	British[1]
Alma mater	De Montfort University
Occupation	Actress, director, writer
Spouse(s)	Neil Biswas (2007–present)

She has also written and directed the short films Forgive (2008) and Out of Darkness (2013), the latter of which she won Best of Fest award at the Aesthetica Short Film Festival.

Early life

Virk was born in Coventry, England. Her mother's name is Jasvir.[2] She comes from a family of three children.[3]

She began acting at the Belgrade Youth Theatre in Coventry and went on to become artistic director of Pangram Dance Theatre with her brother, Hardish.[2][3] She went on to earn a degree in contemporary dance at De Montfort University in Leicester.

Career

In 1999, Virk started off on the British TV series Holby City, which was just the beginning of her television career. She later appeared in three separate episodes of the TV soap opera Doctors, first in 2000 as Karen Slater, again in 2004 as Laila Khalid and in 2007 playing Harpit Jindal. The roles she is most notable for are her roles in 2007's Britz as Nasima Wahid, and the 2010 documentary The Arbor portraying Lorraine Dunbar. The latter she earned three nominations, Best Newcomer at the BFI London Film Festival Awards and Best Actress and Newcomer at the BIFA Awards. She also had a small reoccurring role on the British medical drama show Monroe, recently appeared on the new BBC One show Hunted and has a recurring role on Midsomer Murders.

In 2003, she wrote a play for a show for touring company Theatre Centre titled Glow.[4] In 2008, Virk wrote and directed the short film Forgive starring Sacha Dhawan and Abdi Gouhad.[5] In 2012, she wrote and directed another short called Out of Darkness starring Tom Hiddleston, Monica Dolan, Andrew Gower, Jimmy Akingbola, Christine Bottomley and Riz Ahmed.

Personal life

She met husband Neil Biswas on the set of the TV drama Bradford riots in 2007.[2] As of 2013, she and her husband live in Brixton, South London.[6]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Holby City	Junior Nurse	TV series (1 episode: "Staying Alive: Part 2")
2000	Doctors	Karen Slater	TV series (1 episode: "Game Over")
2003	Ready When You Are, Mr. McGill	Sue	TV film
2003	Two Minutes	Ruby	Short
2004	The Bill	Khadija Miah	TV series (4 episodes)
2004	Doctors	Laila Khalid	TV series (1 episode: "Moving On")
2004	Swiss Toni	Jenny	TV series
2004	Green Wing	Theatre Nurse	TV series (1 episode: "Tangled Webs")
2005	Child of Mine	WPC	TV film
2005	The Ghost Squad	WPC Shareen Charan	TV series (1 episode: "Colour Blind")
2006	Bradford Riots	Shazia	TV film
2006	Orange People	Amber	Short
2007	World of Wrestling	Princess	Short
2007	Doctors	Harpit Jindal	TV series (1 episode: "Wings and Needles")
2007	Comedy Showcase	News Reporter	TV series (1 episode: "Plus One")
2007	Britz	Nasima Wahid	TV film
2007	Famous Last Words		TV short
2008	The Blue Tower	Asha
2009	Runaway	PC Brinkley	TV series (2 episodes)
2010	Skins	Doctor Berg	TV series (1 episode: "Katie")
2010	The Arbor	Lorraine Dunbar	Documentary
2011	Lost Paradise	Ismat	Short
2011	Monroe	Sally Fortune	TV series (6 episodes)
2012	The Thick of It	Journalist 1	TV series (1 episode)
2012	Hunted	Simran Baines	TV series (4 episodes)
2012	Broken Eternity	Woman	Short
2013	Out of Darkness	Female	Short; also writer, director and producer
2014	Checkpost	Ria	Short
2015	Call the Midwife	Ameera Khatun	TV series (Episode #4.5)
2015	History's Future	Phoebe	Post-production
2015	Ordinary Lies	Marianne	TV series
2016–2018	Midsomer Murders	Dr Kam Karimore	Series 18–19
2017	Bad Move	Meena	TV series (6 episodes)

Awards and nominations

Virk was nominated in 2010 for Best Newcomer at the BFI London Film Festival Awards and Best Actress and Newcomer at the BIFA Awards,[7][8] both for her role in The Arbor. She was one of the UK Stars of Tomorrow in Screen International in 2007.[2] She was also nominated for Asian Woman of Achievement Award in 2008.[9]

In 2013, for her short film Out of Darkness, Virk won Best of Fest award at the Aesthetica Short Film Festival.[10]

References

1. Virk, Manjinder (12 March 2008). "The idea that women should disappear when they hit old age is one of the last myths. Ask my mum". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
2. McMullen, Marion (14 March 2011). "Coventry's head girl Manjinder Virk in TV's Monroe". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
3. "TV recreation of tense chapter in social history". Coventry Telegraph. 27 April 2006. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
4. "Glow :: Shows :: Theatre Centre". Theatre Centre. 2003. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
5. "Britz – Pushing The Boundaries". The Asian Today. 8 October 2007. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
6. Tom Seymour (16 October 2013). "LFF 2013 Spotlight: Out Of Darkness". Little White Lies. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
7. "Ones To Watch – Manjinder Virk". Clash Music. 4 June 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
8. "The Moet British Independent Film Awards". The Daily Telegraph.
9. "Asian Women of Achievement Award Winners 2008". Red Hot Curry. 20 May 2008. Archived from the original on 8 November 2008. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
10. Charles Hutchinson (21 November 2013). "Aesthetica Short Film Festival chalks up a record year". Retrieved 4 March 2015.

External links

• Manjinder Virk on IMDb
• Manjinder Virk on Twitter