She speaks fluent Punjabi. Her parents emigrated from India to the UK in the '60s. Her father is a bookkeeper and her mother works in a factory.

She has three younger siblings. Her breakthrough crossover role in America and the United Kingdom was Bend It Like Beckham (2002), which was a big box-office hit.

In Bend It Like Beckham (2002), her character Jess' scar was actually not part of the original script. It was added in based on a real scar Nagra has on her leg. Her pants caught fire when she was young, she was placed in a tub of water so the fabric stuck to the skin. When the fabric was removed it pulled a great deal of skin with it, causing the scarring.

A portrait of Nagra, painted by Stuart Pearson Wright, hangs in London's National Portrait Gallery.

On 11 July 2007 she was awarded an Honorary DLitt (Doctor of Letters) from Leicester University. Leicester is her home town.

Mother of Kai David Singh Stenson who was born on Tuesday, May 19, 2009.