Omid Djalili

Omid Djalili ( fa, امید جلیلی; born 30 September 1965) is a British actor, comedian and writer.

Early life and education

Djalili was born on 30 September 1965 in Chelsea, London, to Iranian Baháʼí parents. He attended Holland Park School and then Ulster University in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, studying English and theatre studies.

Comedy career

The first significant success of his stand-up comedy career was at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1995 with "Short, Fat Kebab Shop Owner's Son", followed by "The Arab and the Jew" with Jewish comedian Ivor Dembina in 1996.

Djalili has performed in numerous countries, including Australia, Ireland, Sweden, Belgium, Canada and the United States, where he had his own HBO Special.

Djalili took part in a show for Comic Relief after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami and also in 2005 he appeared on the British TV show ''Top Gear'' as a celebrity driver. The same year he broke Edinburgh Festival box office records with over 16,500 ticket sales.

In 2006, Sky Television picked him to be the face of their Saturday night film premières, and he also announced a new tour of the UK called 'No Agenda', from January 2007 until March 2007, covering 23 different dates. The ''No Agenda'' tour DVD was released in late 2007.

On 18 March 2007, Djalili was voted by the British public as the 60th best stand-up comedian in a Channel 4 programme "The 100 Greatest Stand-Ups",. On 26 October 2007, he guest-presented the BBC political quiz show '' Have I Got News for You''. ''The Omid Djalili Show'' started on BBC1 on 17 November 2007. The series was a mix of sketches and stand-up material. A second series was recorded in late 2008 and began broadcast on BBC 1 on 20 April 2009. He performed on '' We Are Most Amused'' on ITV1 to mark Prince Charles's 60th birthday in 2008 and on ''We Are Most Amused and Amazed'' to mark his 70th birthday in 2018.

Acting career

Djalili has appeared in a number of films, most notably '' Gladiator'', '' The Mummy'', '' Mean Machine'', ''The World Is Not Enough'', ''Alien Autopsy'', ''Spy Game'', '' Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'', '' Grow Your Own'', ''Notting Hill'', '' Mr Nice'', '' Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End'', ''Sex and the City 2'' and provides his voice in ''Over the Hedge''.

He has observed that he usually appears as a generic Middle Eastern background character in many of these films, often commenting that he appears in the James Bond film as the "Second Azerbaijani oil pipe attendant". He appeared as Nasim in 22 episodes of the U.S. sitcom '' Whoopi'', starring Whoopi Goldberg, and picked up an international film award for Best Supporting Actor in ''Casanova'', starring alongside Heath Ledger and Jeremy Irons.

On 12 February 2009, producer Cameron Mackintosh announced that Djalili would appear as the second Fagin in the new West End production of '' Oliver! '' at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. Omid took over from Rowan Atkinson, who had been contracted until 18 July 2009.

In 2009, Djalili became the voice of Yusuf Amir in the popular gaming series ''Grand Theft Auto''. He took up the role in the '' Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony'' spin-off game. In 2010, he starred in the David Baddiel-scripted film '' The Infidel''.

In 2010, Djalili starred in a series of TV and cinema adverts for Moneysupermarket.com.

Djalili appeared in the short-lived NBC sitcom '' The Paul Reiser Show'', which was a midseason replacement for the 2010–11 television season.

For the BBC Learning project ''Off By Heart Shakespeare'', Omid played Lord Capulet from '' Romeo and Juliet'' and delivered the speech "Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch!"

Djalili appears in the Sky TV adaptation of '' Moonfleet'' shooting in Ireland in 2013.

He appeared in the second series of '' Thunderbirds Are Go'' in October 2016 as Horse Williams.

Djalili provided his voice in the 2015 stop motion animated comedy '' Shaun the Sheep Movie''.

In 2017 Djalili appeared in an acclaimed performance of '' Fiddler on the Roof'' at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

In 2019 he appeared as Dr Martin Lanselius in the BBC
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