ITV Betrayal star Zahra Ahmadi’s life from growing up in Plymouth to ‘tough’ choices – And what’s about to be revealed will leave you SHOCKED.
Zahra Ahmadi grew up in Plymouth before she went on to acting success in everything from EastEnders to Beyond Paradise and ITV's new drama Betrayal
She’s already enjoyed success in hit soap EastEnders and BBC drama Beyond Paradise and now Zahra Ahmadi is back on our screens in the ITV drama Betrayal.
Starring Endeavour’s Shaun Evans as MI5 officer John Hughes, the series is about trust, truth, and the personal cost of secrecy in the modern intelligence world.
The series is set against the backdrop of MI5, and explores the fragile, tangled web of human relationships, where loyalty and deception collide.
At the heart of the story is John Hughes (Evans), a mid-career MI5 officer navigating a rapidly evolving intelligence landscape while struggling to keep his personal life intact.
When he meets Mehreen Askari-Evans (Ahmadi), an intelligence operative who is tasked with taking over John’s duties, he finds an unlikely ally.
So what do we know about Zahra?
Tough career choices
Born in 1982, Zahra Ahmadi is an actress from Plymouth, and she is of Persian descent. She is best known for playing the original Shabnam Masood in EastEnders – a role she embodied from 2007 until 2008.
She admitted she left the soap to try other roles, but claimed it wasn’t easy, saying at the time: “I’ve made the tough decision to leave as I’m still young and I want to try other roles.
“But I’m really happy the door has been left open for me to return as it has been a great experience.”
Life after EastEnders
After EastEnders fame, she went on to star in Count Arthur Strong Innocent and The Bay.
Viewers may also be interested to hear she appeared as a guest in Death in Paradise before landing a main role in the show’s spin-off, Beyond Paradise.
In 2018 she played the role of Daisy Anderson in the episode titled Murder on the Day of the Dead.
Although she did not appear alongside her co-star Kris Marshall, who played Humphrey Goodman in the series, as the lead role had been taken over by Ardal O’Hanlon.
Her character was the murder victim who had been organising a charity auction at the yacht club and was also having an affair.
Zahra admitted she had “a hard time in Guadeloupe” while filming Death in Paradise due to her fear of bugs.
“I don’t like bugs, so I had a lot of bug incidents in Guadalupe…” she explained to Sunday Brunch.
At one point, filming had to stop as Zahra had a poisonous centipede on her leg. She added: “All of a sudden, someone said, ‘Get up, get up, get up!’ So I kind of stood up and I had this dress on, and 10 people descended on me, shaking it out, brushing down my legs.
“And nobody would tell me what was going on, and then eventually, I got it out of my makeup artist.
“And it was a scolopendra – quite a poisonous centipede and it was on me and they have quite nasty bites and can give you quite a bad allergic reaction.”
Betrayal is available on ITV1 and ITVX
