Born: 20th September 1969 (as Mina Mumtaz Anwar)
Episodes Broadcast: 2008-2011, 2017

Mina Anwar was born in Church, Lancashire and discovered a love of singing from an early age. This led to an interest in the performing arts, which prompted her to train at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in Peckham, London. Although she would focus on acting, Anwar was also an accomplished vocalist with a particular interest in jazz. She made her television debut in a 1995 episode of 99-1. The same year, Anwar won a co-starring role opposite Rowan Atkinson in the police sitcom The Thin Blue Line. Her first movie role came in the 2000 romantic comedy Maybe Baby with Hugh Laurie and Joely Richardson. After the turn of the century, Anwar enjoyed both comedic and dramatic roles in shows like The Bill, Best Friends, Coronation Street and Scoop.

Anwar joined the cast of the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures with its second season in 2008. As florist Gita Chandra, she was the cheerful if naive mother to Rani, one of former companion Sarah Jane Smith's teenaged allies. Having debuted in The Day Of The Clown, Anwar remained with the show until its premature end in 2011, following the death of star Elisabeth Sladen. Her last involvement was the fifth-season premiere, Sky. During this time, Anwar also appeared in the 2010 comedy film The Infidel. She soon took a recurring role in another fantastical series, House Of Anubis, ultimately appearing in more than one hundred episodes. Anwar's subsequent credits included Happy Valley, Rocket's Island and In The Club.

In 2017, Anwar finally had a chance to appear in Doctor Who itself, taking the role of the ill-fated Goodthing in Smile, an adventure for Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor. The opportunity came at the invitation of executive producer Brian Minchin, who had also produced The Sarah Jane Adventures. Anwar could then be seen throughout the second season of The Worst Witch, while Starstruck was amongst her television projects during the Twenties. In 2023, Anwar reprised the role of Gita for Rani Takes On The World, a series of audio dramas released by Big Finish Productions which featured characters from The Sarah Jane Adventures.