Sophie Khan Levy

Levy was born in 1989 in Wandsworth, south London. Her mother is actress Shaheen Khan who starred in Bend it Like Beckham. She is of mixed race descent;^[1] her mother was born in Moshi, Tanzania, and is of Indian descent, while her father was born in Toronto, Canada.^[2] She has a younger sister, Nyla, who also acts.^[2] Her mother set up Tara Arts, one of the country's first acting schools specifically for Asian actors. She credits her mother with inspiring her to act.^[2] In her youth, Levy lived in Canada with her cousin for a year and a half.^[3] Levy graduated from the University of Warwick, after which she studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.^[4] Whilst at Guildhall, she appeared in numerous stage productions, including As You Like It, Merrily We Roll Along and A Respectable Wedding.^[5]

Upon graduating from Guildhall in 2013, Levy appeared in Cymbeline, for which she received critical acclaim.^[6] She was then contracted by the Royal Shakespeare Company to appear in various productions.^[7][8] They described her as a "fiercely intelligent and brilliant actress".^[5] She performed in Hanna, a one-woman show, in 2018, for which she received numerous positive reviews.^[9] The Independent wrote that Levy had "a lovely unforced naturalness" and performed the play beautifully,^[10] while The Guardian admired her "compelling performance and sympathetic naturalness".^[11]

In 2022, Levy starred in three episodes of the Channel 5 series All Creatures Great and Small.^[12] Then in 2023, she appeared in an episode of The Sixth Commandment, as well as being cast in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders as Priya Nandra-Hart.^[13][14]

• Mystery Plays as Mary Magdalene
• Phaedra's Love as Phaedra
• Uncle Vanya as Sonya
• Private Lives as Amanda
• The Country Wife as Lady Fidget
• Trojan Women as Hecuba
• As You Like It as Celia
• Blood Wedding as Bride
• Merrily We Roll Along as Mary
• The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby as Mrs Crummies
• A Respectable Wedding as Lyndsay
• May 08 as Sophie
• Cymbeline as Imogen
• Love's Labour's Lost as Housemaid
• The Christmas Truce as Maud Furlong
• A Midsummer Night's Dream as Snug/Cobweb
• Fracked as Emma
• Hanna as Hanna
• Maydays as Clara
• Measure for Measure as Mariana
• While the Sun Shines as Mabel