Bhavna Jayanty Limbachia is a British actress. She is known for her roles as Alia Khan in Citizen Khan and Rana Habeeb in Coronation Street.
Career
Limbachia studied photography, fashion and textiles at college, then moved onto a degree course in Costume Design at Bretton Hall, an affiliate college of the University of Leeds. Before her acting roles, she worked in the costume departments on several film sets including Chicken Tikka Masala in, Bradford Riots in 2006 and All Day Breakfast in 2008. In 2010 she set up her own business designing and selling vintage clothing and accessories. She took an office with Trading Standards and saved up money to do an acting course at the Manchester School of Acting, landing her first role in theatre in the playRafta Rafta, written by Ayub Khan Din who also wrote East Is East. Her first television role was in 2012 playing the character Alia Khan in the BBC comedy series Citizen Khan. The character wears a hijab, tight jeans and tops, and a lot of make-up.
''Coronation Street''
In February 2016, Limbachia joined the long-running ITVsoap opera, Coronation Street, playing Rana Habeeb as a love interest for character Zeedan Nazir. In January 2019, Limbachia announced her departure from the show, with Rana being killed off later in the year. She departed in the episode broadcast on 20 March 2019. Rana was the show's first muslimLGBTQ+ character and her partnership with Faye Brookes, who plays her lover Kate Connor has been highlighted amongst fans and the community. The storyline in which Rana discovers her sexuality and her parents’ subsequent disappointment was praised and the two characters gained the supercouple name ‘Kana’. The Rana and Kate storyline was named as one of the Top 10 LGBT+ Media Moments in the British LGBT Awards 2019. Bhavna made an appearance as an extra on an episode of Emmerdale, playing the role of a nurse.
Charitable work
Bhavna is a patron of the charity Naz and Matt Foundation. The Foundation was set up in 2014 by Matt Ogston after his fiancé, Nazim Mahmood, took his own life when his family confronted him about his sexuality and states that its mission is "to never let religion, any religion, come in the way of the unconditional love between parents and their children."
Personal life
She is of Gujarati origin, her mother was born in India and her father was born in Kenya. She is a Hindu. She married actor Darren Kuppan in July 2018 at Thornton Manor in a British and Asian ceremony.
