EX-EASTENDERS star recalled the awkward moment a fan of the soap asked her for a selfie while she was in labour.
Nina, 54, revealed the strangest place she’s been recognised for her role as Zainab Masood on the BBC soap.
Nina recalled the strangest moment she got recognised for her EastEnders role as Zainab Masood
Nina married composer Raiomond Mirza and had two children together, Aidan and Tia
The actress revealed to the Daily Star that she was asked for a photo by a fan whilst on the verge of giving birth to her son, Aidan.
She said: “The strangest place I’ve been recognised was when I was giving birth. They asked for a selfie. It was really odd timing – it was a slightly strange sensation.
“It was a very unusual time to ask. It’s not a good thing to happen when you’re mid-delivery. My response was, ‘How about not now… maybe after’.”
Nina has been married to composer Raiomond Mirza since 1998 and together they share a 16-year-old son named Aidan and a 19-year-old daughter named Tia.
She played Zainab for six years before departing in 2013.
This came after her iconic role in BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me.
But Nina admitted that she struggled to gain other acting roles as casting directors saw her as Zainab.
She continued: “I thought maybe I’d go back into comedy [after leaving EastEnders] but Zainab ruined my career for a year because no casting director would touch me.
“My agent would put me forward and they’d go, ‘No, she’s Zainab’, and I was like, ‘I’m not actually Zainab. I can do other things’.”
Also since leaving the soap, she was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in 2021 where she was paired with Neil Jones.
However, they were the first pair to be voted off the show that year.
Talking about her exit as Zainab, Nina added: “It was fun, I loved my time on EastEnders. It’s one of those shows that when I was in it, I absolutely did enjoy it. [But] I think I’m one of those actors who need to be doing different things.
“It does happen in soaps where you hit a time where you think, ‘OK, I’m getting a bit bored. The storyline is going over the same kind of ground,’ and I thought, ‘I just want to freshen [it] up’.”
Nina’s latest project, ITVX horror comedy Count Abdulla, premiered last month on ITV’s streaming platform.
The series follows a British-Pakistani Muslim doctor, played by The Bay’s Arian Nik, who’s transformed into a vampire.
EastEnders airs on Mondays to Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One and on BBC iPlayer.
Nina competed in the 2021 series of Strictly Come Dancing
