Sophie Khan Levy says Shaheen Khan helped shape her decision to become an actor, drawing a direct line from a household filled with performance to her own work on EastEnders. The connection also puts a South Asian screen legacy back in view at a moment when Priya Nandra-Hart remains part of the soap’s current conversation.
Levy has played Priya Nandra-Hart on EastEnders for several years after joining in 2023. Her mother’s screen history stretches back to the late 1980s in Casualty, then to Mrs Bhamra in Bend It Like Beckham in 2002, giving the family story a timeline that runs from British medical drama to one of the most recognisable film roles in South Asian cinema.
Shaheen Khan on screen
Khan’s credits matter because they explain why Levy framed her own career as inheritance rather than accident. She said: “Mum paved the way not just for me but for so many South Asian actors who watched her and thought ‘if she can, maybe I can too’.” That line goes beyond family pride; it places Khan inside a wider pipeline that has long depended on visible examples.
Levy also said: “Mum brought her talents into our home and made our childhood full of play! Encouraging us to imagine, to create and to dream big.” That is the most revealing detail in the interview, because it shows influence happening before any formal training or casting call. In other words, the acting path began as part of daily life, not as a late career choice.
Priya Nandra-Hart in 2023
The timing matters because Levy is not speaking from the edge of the industry. She joined EastEnders in 2023 as Priya, and the character has stayed visible through recent storylines, including Priya finding out she was pregnant this week amid her affair with Max Branning. That keeps Levy in a high-exposure position while she talks about the people who opened the door before her.
She also said: “I think it’s important to acknowledge the history we have as a South Asian community in the performance space. Often I hear ‘this is the first time we’ve seen this or that’, we can’t galvanise our community if we don’t acknowledge our legacy and history. In the end, storytelling is a universal and ancient way to pass on exactly that.” That is the practical takeaway here: Levy is asking viewers to read her career as part of a lineage, not as a standalone breakthrough.
EastEnders at 7:30pm
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7:30pm on One, which means Levy’s profile is tied to a steady primetime slot rather than a one-off appearance. For viewers who only recently learned that Shaheen Khan is her mother, the surprise is less about celebrity trivia than about how quietly screen families can shape the next generation. The better read is simple: Levy is already on the roster, and her mother’s work explains part of how she got there.
