Karen Johal

British south Asian actor Karen Johal is most notably known for her role as Nicole Shelley on the Emmy Award winning Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso”.

Born and raised in Birmingham, England, Karen began training as an actor at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Manhattan, New York.

After graduating in 2017, Karen launched her career in Oskar Eustis’s production of “Julius Caesar” at Shakespeare in the Park for The Public Theatre. Starring opposite Corey Stoll, Elizabeth Marvel and John Douglas Thompson.

Karen also starred in the Amazon Prime short film “Frank’s Plan” and in the original off-Broadway musical “Me and the girls” opposite award winning Scottish actor Alan Cumming

Karen starred in a national campaign for global messaging platform WhatsApp. Collaborating with British broadcaster Alex Scott to promote the messaging network’s new privacy features in 2023.

She also worked with BAFTA award winning director Sindha Agha on the MTV Short film “The Waves” which aired in the US across 9 channels as part of Women’s History month in March 2023.

Karen also starred on the BBC television series “Phoenix Rise” playing Noreen Khan. Seasons 1 & 2 are available on BBC iPlayer.

Other credits include Ayad Akhtar’s “The Who and the What” at The English Theatre of Hamburg, “The Journey to America” at Carnegie Hall and regional premieres of Duncan MacMillan’s “People, Places & Things” and David Harrower’s “Blackbird”.

In 2023 Karen joined the cast of Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” as Nicole Shelley, starring opposite Jason Sudeikis, Brett Goldstein, Hannah Waddingham and Nick Mohammed.

In July 2023 the final series of the show received an astounding 21 Emmy Award nominations in 15 categories, including Best Comedy Series and Best Ensemble in a Comedy series at the SAG Awards.

Karen’s recent projects include International commercials for F1 sponsor Aramco Global and Northwell Health Insurance.

In 2024 she was a part of the Research and Development stage for the upcoming play “I am the ghost of Quandeel Baloch” by Guleraana Mir at the Birmingham Hippodrome.

Karen also starred in the original production of Why Are You Here? directed by Paul Hayes at the An Tain Arts Centre in Dundalk,Ireland.