PARMINDER NAGRA JESS
Then a worldly 26 years old, with a CV that only really included Casualty, the actress was perfectly cast as 18-year-old Jesminder “Jess” Bharma.
Obsessed with David Beckham and desperate to play football with the boys, we saw her torn between her undeniable talent and her disapproving mum.
Jess secretly joins the local girls’ team, befriending Jules and falling for coach Joe. And, after heading to America at the end of the film to pursue her dreams, the English star did likewise. She co-starred with Anne Hathaway in Ella Enchanted before bagging a part on ER (then the biggest show on US telly) playing Dr Neela Rasgotra. She stayed in the medical drama for six years until 2009, before starring in crime drama The Blacklist and Marvel’s Agents Of SHIELD.
Now 46, Parminder returns to our screens next month as the lead in new cop drama DI Ray, produced by Line Of Duty’s Jed Mercurio.