She made her name in British-Indian hits such as the musical Bombay Dreams and the film Bend It Like Beckham. Now Preeya Kalidas is putting her Asian roots behind her to play the narrator in a new production of Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
She will co-star with Lee Mead, who won the part of Joseph in the reality TV series Any Dream Will Do. Kalidas, who was born in Twickenham, said she was "ecstatic" to have landed the role after being invited to audition by producer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
"It's great to have the opportunity to be in something where it's not specifically for an Asian girl," she added.
She has been in rehearsals for three weeks and Mead joined the company last week following his victory in the BBC1 show. Kalidas said: "Of course I watched the show because I was going to be working with the person who was going to be Joseph. I think the best man won. The company is great."
Kalidas, the daughter of an independent financial adviser and a British Airways worker, studied at the Sylvia Young Theatre School. She has worked with Lord Lloyd-Webber before, playing Priya in Bombay Dreams.
She was also in the film East Is East and has appeared in the BBC medical drama Bodies. The Joseph production is already attracting huge interest.
When the box office opened last Monday, 48 hours after Mead's win, it was busier than when Connie Fisher won the starring role in The Sound Of Music via BBC reality show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?
Joseph opens at the Adelphi Theatre on 17 July
