Actress Nina Wadia, who was recently seen in Netflix's The Sandman and Disney’s live-action Aladdin, has revealed that playing the role of Zainab Masood in EastEnders temporarily “ruined” her career.
For the unversed, Wadia, 54, played the said character on EastEnders from 2007 to 2013 and received a great response for her performance.
Joining Thursday’s episode of Loose Women, the actress said, “It was fun. I loved my time on EastEnders, loved it. I would go back in a heartbeat. It was one of those shows that when I was in it, I absolutely did enjoy it. Towards the end… I think I’m one of those actors that needs to be doing different things. There’s a time where you just go, okay I need to do something else, I’m getting a bit bored, the storylines are going over the same ground. I thought maybe I’d go back into comedy, but Zainab Masood ruined my career for a year because no casting director touched me.’
She continued, “My agent would put me forward and they’d go ‘no she’s Zainab’ and I was like ‘I’m not actually Zainab. I can do other things’.”
Her dry spell did not last long and since leaving the show she has played consistently strong roles including in Aladdin opposite Will Smith.
Stay tuned to this space for more updates and reveals.
Yami Gautam
Sidharth Malhotra
Akshay Kumar
Kiran Rao
Vidya Balan
From desks to dreams: A journey of girls’ empowerment