{{Short description|Kenyan actress (born 1957)}} {{use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox person | name = Sneh Gupta | image = | birth_name = Sneh Lata Gupta | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1957|05|12}} | birth_place = Nairobi, Kenya | death_date = | death_cause = | death_place = | occupation = {{Hlist | School executive director | Actress | producer}} | years_active = 1977–present | known_for = | title = | education = | alma mater = | nationality = | parents = | spouse = | children = }} '''Sneh Gupta''' (born 12 May 1957) is an actress and the executive director of Sucheta Kriplani Shiksha Niketan (SKSN), a residential school for students with physical challenges. She is known for her work on the British television shows ''Sale of the Century'' and ''Angels'', as well as her role as Princess Sushila in the film ''The Far Pavilions''. She also founded a production company.<ref name="Donnell 2002">{{cite book |last=Donnell |first=Alison |author-link=Alison Donnell |title=Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |page=132 |isbn=9780415262002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfdpdZ9DwH0C&dq=sneh+gupta+alison+donnell&pg=PA132|via=Google Books}}</ref>
==Early life== Gupta was born in Kenya on 12 May 1957,<ref name=BFI>{{cite web |title=Sneh Gupta |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba15df245 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326050931/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba15df245 |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 March 2019 |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=14 April 2021}}</ref> as one of five children to Indian parents. Her father was a teacher and she attended the school where he taught.<ref name="Gifford1990">{{cite book |last=Gifford |first=Zerbanoo |author-link=Zerbanoo Gifford |title=The Golden Thread: Asian Experiences of Post-Raj Britain |date=2002 |publisher=Pandora Press |page=201 |isbn=9780044406051 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G21nAAAAMAAJ&q=sneh+gupta+german |via=Google Books}}</ref>
She travelled as a child in order to follow her father's teaching career.<ref name="Donnell 2002"/> However, not wishing to get engaged and wanting her own independence, she left home aged 17 and spent a year studying in Germany before going to England.<ref name="Gifford1990" />
== Acting and modelling == While living in Bedford after moving to the United Kingdom in 1974, Gupta initially studied to become a nurse.<ref name="DM1">{{cite news |title=Feathers will fly! |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/790147622/ |work=Daily Mirror |date=23 September 1978 |page=13}}</ref> Saying that she did so "for a laugh", she decided to audition for Miss Anglia TV, which she won, gaining public notice in 1977.<ref name="DM1" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://mikeshaft.com/2012/05/23/one-world/ |title=One World |publisher=Mike Shaft|date=23 May 2012}}</ref> This in turn led to her becoming a hostess on the ITV gameshow ''Sale of the Century'' alongside Nicholas Parsons for a year until 1978, after which she opened a fashion boutique called Plumage in Bedford.<ref name="DM1" /> She then tried a modelling career but gave it up, realising she could not keep it in parallel with an acting career. Debuting in ''Angels'',<ref>{{cite news |last=Pratt |first=Mike |title=Swinger for the Angels |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/790182753/ |work=Daily Mirror |date=10 December 1979 |page=19}}</ref> Gupta proceeded to make appearances in ''Turtle's Progress'',<ref name="DM3">{{cite news |last=Smyllie |first=Patricia |title=Double Vision |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/790167020/ |work=Daily Mirror |date=14 May 1979 |page=19}}</ref> ''Lingalongamax'',<ref name="DM3" /> ''Crossroads'',<ref>{{cite news |last=Pratt |first=Mike |title=By public demand... |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/808622213/ |work=Sunday Mirror |date=16 May 1982 |page=19}}</ref> ''Doctor Who'' (1984's ''Resurrection of the Daleks''),<ref>{{cite journal | last = Cook | first = Benjamin | author-link= Benjamin Cook (journalist) | date = February 2021 | title = Starship Troopers | journal =Doctor Who Magazine | issue = 560 | pages = 20–22 | issn =}}</ref> ''Kim'',<ref name=BFI/> ''Tandoori Nights''<ref>{{cite news |title=Your 24 Hour TV and Radio Guide: Channel 4 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000740/19871016/222/0017 |work=Sandwell Evening Mail |date=16 October 1987 |page=17}}</ref> and ''Octopussy''.<ref name="REP">{{cite news |title=Change of direction |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/807228801/ |work=Reading Evening Post|date=7 October 1989 |page=13}}</ref>
In 1981, she starred in ''An Arranged Marriage'', an ITV drama about a Sikh who moved to the Midlands in the 1950s, and the arranged marriages for himself and for his daughter. The storyline was based on information from interviews with more than 250 Sikhs.<ref>{{cite news |title=Wedded to tradition? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/790265427/ |work=Daily Mirror |date=1 December 1981 |page=19}}</ref> Her character in ''The Far Pavilions'' engages in suttee, a scene described by Roy West in the ''Liverpool Echo'' as "one of the dramatic highlights of this spectacular series".<ref name=BFI/><ref>{{cite news |last=West |first=Roy |title=The Raj and the motel princess |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/797003723/ |work=Liverpool Echo |date=3 January 1984 |pages=6–7}}</ref> She was a guest on ''Blankety Blank'' in 1987.<ref>{{cite news |title=Television |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/916923754/ |work=Liverpool Echo |date=30 January 1987 |pages=28}}</ref> Gupta presented the series ''Switch On To English'', a quiz show for people who spoke English as a second language, in 1986,<ref>{{cite news |title=Sunday: BBC1 |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002487/19860531/180/0018 |work=Sandwell Evening Mail |date=31 May 1986 |pages=18}}</ref> and Bol Chaal, a Hindi and Urdu language-learning programme, in 1989.<ref name="REP" /> In 1991, she co-hosted the magazine programme ''One World'' with Mike Shaft.<ref name="REP" />
In 1987, Gupta cut her hair short as part of an attempt to avoid typecasting as a young, reserved woman but was not offered the wider range of roles that she hoped.<ref>{{cite news |last=Roy |first=Amit |title=Eastern promise wasted - Asian actresses |work=The Sunday Times |date=7 May 1989}}</ref> She also formed her own production company.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wavell |first=Stuart |title=Turning up the voice of Asia - People |work=The Sunday Times |date=24 September 1989}}</ref>
==Production work== Gupta moved to India in 1996 where she worked on documentaries as a researcher, location manager, assistant producer and director for a variety of broadcasters.<ref name="SKSN profile">{{cite web|url=http://sksn.org/meet_staff/sneh.html |title=Meet the Staff - Sneh Gupta - Executive Director|publisher=SKSN}}</ref>
==Executive director of SKSN== Gupta is the executive director of Sucheta Kriplani Shiksha Niketan (SKSN), a school for students with physical challenges<ref name="SKSN profile"/> and started the Indian Mixed Ability Group Events (IMAGE) programme in 2004,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sportanddev.org/en/user/sneh-gupta |title=Sneh Gupta |publisher=sportanddev}}</ref> leading to the creation of the Indiability Foundation in 2011.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0348503}} *[https://www.sportanddev.org/network/organisation-directory/indiability-foundation Indiability Foundation]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Sneh}} Category:20th-century Kenyan actresses Category:Living people Category:1957 births Category:Actresses from Nairobi Category:Kenyan film actresses Category:Kenyan television actresses