The Blacklist Star, Parminder Kaur Nagra was born in Leicester, England, as the eldest child of Sukha and Nashuter Nagra, Sikh factory workers who emigrated from the Punjab region of India in the 1960s.
Nagra attended the Northfield House Primary School in Leicester.
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At her comprehensive school, Soar Valley College, she played viola in the youth orchestra and also appeared in her first theatrical productions.
A few months after sitting her A-levels and leaving school, Nagra was approached by her former drama instructor, Jez Simons, about becoming part of the Leicester-based theatre company Haithizi Productions, for which he served as the artistic director.
She accepted and was cast as a chorus member in the 1994 musical Nimai presented at the Leicester Haymarket. Only a week into rehearsals, she was switched from the chorus to replace the lead actress, who had dropped out.
Simons recalls that Nagra, while also a good singer and actress, had a quality that raised her above other actresses which led him to select her as the new lead.