Biography

Karen Johal is a British South Asian actor, born in Birmingham, England. She is best known for playing Nicole Shelley in Season 3 of the Emmy Award-winning Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso, and for portraying Noreen Khan in the BBC series Phoenix Rise.

In 2014 she moved to New York, to attend The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After graduating she began her career working in theatre starring in productions of Welcome to Thebes, Truest, She Kills Monsters, and the Noël Coward musical, Me and the Girls directed by Douglas Carter Beane, starring Alan Cumming.

In 2017 she starred in the off-Broadway play Camel, written by Charly Clive. Before appearing in The Public Theater's Summer production of Julius Caesar and Orchestra Moderne's The Journey to America at Carnegie Hall.

Her work on screen includes appearing in the Amazon Prime short film Frank's Plan and in the award-winning psychological thriller Man on the Phone.

In 2021 she starred in UK regional premieres of David Harrower's Blackbird and People, Places and Things by Duncan MacMillan. She also performed at The Birmingham Rep, in Mismatch directed by Iqbal Khan.

In 2022 she joined the cast of the BBC series Phoenix Rise, playing Noreen Khan, for the first two seasons. Before leaving the series to play Nicole Shelley in Ted Lasso.

In its third season Ted Lasso was nominated for 21 Emmy awards including Best Comedy Series. The show also received a nomination from The Actor (Sag) Awards for Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

In 2023 making her European stage debut, she played the lead role in Ayad Akhtar's The Who and the What at The English Theatre of Hamburg in Germany.

Karen also worked with BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Sindha Agha in the MTV short film The Waves.

Earlier this year she wrapped production on the fourth season of Netflix's The Diplomat, starring Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, and Alison Janney.
- IMDb mini biography by: Author