Laila Zaidi (born October 1993) is a British actress. On television, she is known for her roles in the tenth series of ''

Benidorm Benidorm ( , , ) is a municipality in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Known as the “New York City, New York of the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean”, Benidorm has been a tourist destinatio ...

'' (2018) on ITV, the fifth series of the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

comedy-drama ''

Ackley Bridge ''Ackley Bridge'' is a British comedy drama series set in a multicultural academy school of the same name. The series is set in the fictional town of Ackley, and filmed in Halifax, West Yorkshire and it began broadcasting on Channel 4 on 7 Jun ...

'' (2022) and for her role as Maria Jaziri on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

soap opera ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

'' (2024).

Early life

Zaidi was born in

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

, Norfolk to a Pakistani father from Karachi and an English-Welsh mother, and grew up in

Washington, Tyne and Wear Washington is a town in the City of Sunderland, Sunderland district, in Tyne and Wear, England. Historically part of County Durham, it is the ancestral settlement of the local Washington family, from which the first President of the United Stat ...

. She has an older brother and a younger sister. Zaidi attended

Newcastle High School for Girls Newcastle High School for Girls is a private day school for girls aged 3–18 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The Junior School is at Sandyford Park and the Senior School is located in the neighbouring suburb of Jesmond. The school was formed ...

. She went on to graduate in 2016 from the

Arts Educational School Arts Educational Schools, or ArtsEd, is an independent performing arts school in Chiswick, West London, England. Overview ArtsEd provides specialist vocational training at secondary, further and higher education level in musical theatre and ...

(ArtsEd) in West London with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA).

Career

Upon graduating from ArtsEd in 2016, Zaidi made her professional stage debut starring as Maria in the

Kilworth House Kilworth House is a four star country house hotel, located west of North Kilworth, Leicestershire. History This grade II listed Italianate country house was built as a family home towards the end of the nineteenth century for John Entwisle, t ...

production of ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...

''. She also appeared in ''The Season Ticket'' at the

Northern Stage Northern Stage is a regional non-profit LORT (League of Resident Theatres)-D professional theater company located in White River Junction, Vermont White River Junction is an unincorporated village and census-designated place (CDP) in the tow ...

. In 2017, she workshopped

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

's ''

Starlight Express '' Starlight Express'' is a 1984 musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. It tells the story of a young but obsolete steam engine, Rusty, who races in a championship against modern locomotives of diesel and el ...

'' at

The Other Palace The Other Palace is a theatre in London's Off West End which opened on 18 September 2012 as the St. James Theatre. It features a 312-seat main theatre and a 120-seat studio theatre. It was built on the site of the former Westminster Theatre, ...

in London and made her television debut with a guest appearance in an episode of the BBC medical soap ''

''. In 2018, Zaidi joined the cast of the long-running ITV sitcom ''

'' for its tenth series as Cyd. She took part in the original cast of the folk opera '' The Selfish Giant'', which premiered at the

Royal & Derngate Royal & Derngate is a theatre complex in the Cultural Quarter, Northampton, Cultural Quarter of Northampton, England, consisting of the Royal Theatre, Derngate Theatre and the Northampton Filmhouse. The Royal was built by theatre architect Cha ...

in Northampton and then had a run at London's

Vaudeville Theatre The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. Opening in 1870, the theatre staged mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. The theatre was rebuilt twice, although each new buildin ...

for the venue's

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

season, marking Zaidi's West End debut. In 2019, she starred as Jess Bhamra in the Canadian production and North American premiere of '' Bend It Like Beckham: The Musical'' at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto. Zaidi joined the main cast of the

school-set comedy drama ''

'' for its fifth and final series as the teacher Asma Farooqi, which aired in 2022. In 2023, she appeared in the

Live Theatre Live Theatre, formerly Live Theatre Company, is a new writing theatre and company based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. As well as producing and presenting new plays many of which go on to tour nationally and internationally, it seeks out an ...

production of ''Three Acts of Love'' in Newcastle. She then went on the Rifco tour of ''Frankie Goes to Bollywood'' as the titular character. In 2024, she appeared in the

soap opera ''

'' as Maria Jaziri.

Personal life

In 2023, Zaidi became engaged to fellow ''Benidorm'' star

Adam Gillen Adam Gillen (born 11 September 1985) is a British actor, best known for his role as Liam Conroy in the ITV hit series ''Benidorm'', Brian in the Channel 4 comedy '' Fresh Meat'' and Gavin in BBC's '' Prisoners’ Wives''. In 2019, Gillen was n ...

; their relationship had been initially reported on in 2018.

Filmography

Stage

References

External links

*
Laila Zaidi
at Spotlight {{DEFAULTSORT:zaidi, laila Living people 1993 births 21st-century English actresses Actors from King's Lynn Actresses from Tyne and Wear English musical theatre actresses English people of Pakistani descent English people of Welsh descent English television actresses Actors educated at the Arts Educational Schools People educated at Central Newcastle High School People from Washington, Tyne and Wear Actresses from Norfolk Actors from the City of Sunderland