Mandeep Dhillon

The school permit that led to a career

Mandeep Dhillon was working at a special needs school when she asked for a few hours off for an audition in 2012. She wasn't chasing fame, just a break from her daily routine. But that casting call for the series Some Girls ended up marking the end of her time as a teaching assistant.

She played Saz Kaur for three seasons. It was her first serious work in the British industry and the moment she realized her natural style worked on camera. She was born in Letchworth Garden City in 1990 and grew up far from the power circles of London theater.

That was the beginning of it all.

Her style isn't built on exaggeration. Dhillon uses silence and bewildered looks to create comedy. That restraint attracted BBC producers who cast her in projects such as Fried in 2015 and Zapped between 2016 and 2018.

Ricky Gervais's Call

Her career took a sharp turn in 2019 for one very specific reason. Ricky Gervais wrote the role of Sandy in After Life with her in mind. They had met on an earlier pilot that never took off, but the comedian never forgot her face.

And the gamble paid off.

Sandy was the human, vulnerable counterpoint in a local newspaper newsroom full of cynical characters. They filmed 18 episodes of the Netflix series between 2019 and 2022. They made audiences empathize with their character without the need for big dramatic speeches or acting tricks.

During that same period, they appeared in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as Lieutenant Garan. It was a brief but meaningful role in their Hollywood career, as it allowed them to join the Screen Actors Guild earlier than expected.

The Nevada Lab

Her big break in the U.S. market came in 2021. She moved to Los Angeles to shoot CSI: Vegas as Allie Rajan. The shoot demanded a different kind of effort, since the scripts were full of scientific jargon and strict police protocols.

She played this ballistics expert for 31 episodes through 2024. It was a period of technical learning where she had to leave British improvisation behind and work within a much more rigid production format. Her contract included absolute availability clauses that limited her appearances in other projects during those three years of intensive filming.

Before moving to Las Vegas, they appeared in the series The Great during 2020. There, they played a figure at the Russian court, showing that their range was not limited by the historical setting of the script or the period costumes.

The forensic series ended its run in May 2024 after CBS officially canceled it.