Sacha Dhawan (; born 1 May 1984) is a British actor from

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

. He is best known for playing Akthar in the play '' The History Boys'' (2004–2006) and its

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

(2006), Paul Jatri in the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

comedy drama series '' Last Tango in Halifax'' (2012), Waris Hussein in the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

docudrama film '' An Adventure in Space and Time'' (2013), Manish Prasad in the crime thriller ''

Line of Duty ''Line of Duty'' is a British police procedural television series created by Jed Mercurio and produced by World Productions. On 26 June 2012, BBC Two began to broadcast the first series; it was its best-performing drama series in ten years w ...

'' (2014),

Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alps, Alpine resort town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, muni ...

in '' Marvel's Iron Fist'' (2017–2018), Orlo in ''

The Great This is a list of people known as the Great, or the equivalent, in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes, such as Persian ''e Bozorg'' and Urdu ''e Azam''. In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to have been a co ...

'' (2020) and The Master in the long-running BBC

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'' (2020–2022).

Early life

Dhawan was born in

Bramhall Bramhall is a suburban area in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Cheshire, it had a population of 17,436 at the 2011 Census.Bramhall South and Bramhall North Wards History The Anglo-Saxon man ...

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is withi ...

, to

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

parents from Jalandhar,

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

. Dhawan trained at the Laine-Johnson Theatre School in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, and started acting at the age of twelve. He attended Aquinas College in

. Dhawan was diagnosed with

Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if inflammation is severe), fever, abdominal distensi ...

in 2006. In 2016, he suffered from flare ups whilst filming ''Iron Fist'' in New York.

Career

Television and film

Dhawan has appeared in a number of television shows in the United Kingdom. He had recurring roles in '' Weirdsister College'', in which he played Azmat Madaridi, and series two and three of the children's TV series ''

Out of Sight ''Out of Sight'' is a 1998 American crime comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Scott Frank, adapted from Elmore Leonard's 1996 novel of the same name. The first of several collaborations between Soderbergh and actor Georg ...

''. He appeared in the mini series '' The Last Train'' (1999), and has guest starred in episodes on ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

'', ''Altogether Now'', and ''City Central''. He also appeared in 2008 ITV drama, ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...

'', as Ben Chandrakar, alongside Jodie Whittaker and

Laurence Fox Laurence Paul Fox (born 1978) is a political activist and former actor, most well-known for playing the supporting role of DS James Hathaway in the British TV drama series '' Lewis'' from 2006 to 2015. A grandson of the actors Robin and Ange ...

. He was part of an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast t ...

on the NBC sitcom '' Outsourced'', which aired during the 2010–11 season. In November 2013, Dhawan portrayed director Waris Hussein in '' An Adventure in Space and Time'', a

biographical television film on the creation of the BBC science fiction television series ''

'' as part of its 50th Anniversary celebration. He also appeared as Paul Jatri, a 22-year-old man involved with a woman twice his age, in the first series of

's '' Last Tango in Halifax''. He plays the part of

in the Netflix series '' Iron Fist'' in both the seasons. He starred as

Sathnam Sanghera Sathnam Sanghera (born 1976) is a British journalist and best-selling author. Early life and education Sathnam Sanghera was born to Indian Punjabi parents in Wolverhampton in 1976. His parents had emigrated from India to the UK in 1968.Batt, D ...

in the critically acclaimed '' The Boy with the Topknot'', shown on

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream ...

in 2017. He appeared in four episodes of the twelfth series of ''

'' as the latest incarnation of the renegade

Time Lord The Time Lords are a fictional ancient race of extraterrestrial people in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', of which the series' main protagonist, the Doctor, is a member. Time Lords are so named for their command ...

known as the Master. He plays the role of Count Orlo, advisor to

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...

, in comedy-drama TV series ''

''.

Theatre

Dhawan originated the role of Akthar in

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two ...

's play '' The History Boys''. After playing Akthar in the original stage production he reprised the role in the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

productions, and radio and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

versions of the play. For his performance in ''

Bradford Riots The Bradford Riots were a brief period of violent rioting which began on 7 July 2001, in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They occurred as a result of heightened tension between the large and growing British Asian communities and the city's ...

'' he won the 2007

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

Award for On-Screen Breakthrough. In July 2018 Dhawan reunited with ''History Boys'' playwright Alan Bennett and co-star Samuel Barnett for Bennett's new play ''Allelujah!'' at the Bridge Theatre.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Radio and theatre

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dhawan, Sacha 1984 births Living people Actors from Stockport English male film actors English male radio actors English male stage actors English male television actors English male video game actors English male voice actors English people of Indian descent People educated at Bramhall High School People from Bramhall 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors