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Parminder Nagra was born in the Belgrave area of Leicester.

She first delved into the world of acting at the Leicester Haymarket Theatre as an usher when she was 16 years old, and her big break came playing a female football player in the film 'Bend it like Beckham' in 2002.

Parminder giving her speech

She's now well-known for her starring role as Dr Neela Rasgotra in American medical drama 'ER'.

Parminder has received many awards, but on 11 July 2007 she was named a Doctor of Letters by the University of Leicester.

Watch 大象传媒 East Midlands Today's video of the ceremony, listen to 大象传媒 Radio Leicester's interview with Parminder Nagra and take a look at the photos of the actress receiving her doctorate...

Parminder says she enjoys returning to her home city, and there have been many changes since she last visited her family:

"There are a lot of buildings that have gone up, there seems to be a lot of regeneration going on, which is really exciting to see.

Parminder in the grounds of DMH

"It's never dull coming back because you're always seeing some new building pop up, but it's nice to go around old areas and it just brings back loads of old memories of things you got up to or didn't get up to."

She's been living in Los Angeles for a few years now, and says she loves the lifestyle and has made lots of good friends there.

But she does miss one thing from Leicester... Walkers crisps!

So how did the 31-year-old actress feel when she found out she'd be going from pretending to be a doctor on the television, to becoming one in real life?

"I've been playing one for four and a half years so it's a little bit odd getting a doctorate.

"It's funny because I told all my castmates as well on 'ER' and one of the girls, Maura, who plays the character Abby, she was like, 'oh we're going to have to call your Dr Parminder now!'

"And I was like 'Yes you do!', they're all really excited actually."