Abdullah Afzal (; born 8 February 1989) is a British actor and stand-up comedian.

Early life

Afzal was born on 8 February 1989 to Pakistani parents in

Cheetham Hill Cheetham is an inner-city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England, which in 2011 had a population of 22,562. It lies on the west bank of the River Irk, north of Manchester city centre, close to the boundary with Salford, bounded by Cru ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, England. His family originates from

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. He has three older brothers, two older sisters and a younger half-brother. His native language spoken at home was Pothwari. He attended Abraham Moss High School in North Manchester. Afzal trained for three years to be a hafiz.

Career

In 2007, Afzal had his first acting role as a young student in a short film called ''Raamis'' (originally called ''Extraordinary Rendition''). Between 2008 and 2011, he starred as Asif in two seasons of

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

sitcom ''

Lunch Monkeys ''Lunch Monkeys'' is a British situation comedy, first shown on BBC Three in 2008. Overview ''Lunch Monkeys'' by David Isaac is a BBC Three comedy series, produced by Channel X North, set in the administration department of fictional personal inj ...

''. Since 2012, he has portrayed the character of Amjad Malik in

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

's ''

Citizen Khan ''Citizen Khan'' is a British sitcom produced by the BBC and created by Adil Ray. It ran for five series, from 2012 to 2016. It is set in Sparkhill, South Birmingham, described by its lead character, a British Pakistani man named Mr Khan (Ray), ...

''. In February 2014, Afzal presented the Christmas comedy specials on

BBC Asian Network BBC Asian Network is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially those between the ages of 18 and 34. The station has produc ...

. In July 2015, he performed stand-up at the Eid Special Comedy Night at

The Comedy Store The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California. History The Comedy ...

in London. In July 2014, Afzal played two roles in

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''By a Young Officer: Churchill on the North West Frontier''. In 2017, he appeared as Jahid in the romantic comedy film '' Finding Fatimah''. In 2021, Afzal wrote, starred, and directed Cinder’aliyah, Britain’s first Muslim pantomime. The pantomime is due to tour again in 2022.

Personal life

He works at

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2024, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passengers (the busiest outside of London) ...

and Eden Boys' Leadership academy Manchester to supplement his acting career , and lives in Manchester with his wife Uzma, who he married in 2015.

Filmography

Film

Television

Radio

References

External links

* * 1989 births Living people English Muslims English people of Pakistani descent English people of Punjabi descent English male comedians English stand-up comedians English comedy writers Muslim male comedians English male television actors 21st-century English comedians 21st-century English male actors Comedians from Manchester Male actors from Manchester People from Cheetham Hill {{UK-comedian-stub