Adeel Akhtar (born 18 September 1980) is a British actor. In 2017, he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his role in '' Murdered by My Father''. He was also nominated for a

BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor Best Actor in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film. Actors of all n ...

for his role on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's ''

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island socie ...

'', as well as a

British Academy Film Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

nomination for

Best Actor in a Leading Role Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

for ''

Ali & Ava ''Ali & Ava'' is a 2021 British drama film written and directed by Clio Barnard. The film stars Adeel Akhtar and Claire Rushbrook in the lead roles. ''Ali & Ava'' had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors Fortnight s ...

''.

Early life

Akhtar was born in London, to a Pakistani father and a Kenyan mother. He was educated at

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent SchoolDay and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Huggett ...

Junior School from 1991 to 1994 and then moved to Cheltenham College in Newick House from 1994 to 1999. He originally completed a degree in law from

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. The university was named ...

in 2002, but decided to follow his passion and change to acting, training at the

Actors Studio Drama School The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 44th Street (Manhattan), West 44th Street between Ninth Avenue (Manhattan), Ninth and Tenth Avenue (Manhattan), Tenth avenues in the ...

, then within

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

, in New York.

Career

Akhtar's first major role was as the bumbling Muslim

extremist Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...

Faisal in Chris Morris's film '' Four Lions''. Other comedic performances include Gupta in ''The Angelos Epithemiou Show'', Maroush in '' The Dictator'' and

Smee Mr. Smee is a fictional character who serves as Captain Hook's boatswain in J. M. Barrie's 1904 play ''Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up'' and 1911 novel ''Peter and Wendy''. History Mr. Smee seems an oddly genial man for a pirate; Ba ...

Joe Wright Joseph Wright (born 25 August 1972) is an English film director residing in Somerset, England. His motion pictures include the literary adaptations '' Pride & Prejudice'' (2005), '' Atonement'' (2007), ''Anna Karenina'' (2012), and '' Cyrano'' ...

's'' Pan''. Akhtar has also won acclaim for his dramatic performances: in 2015, he was nominated for a

for his 2014 role as Wilson Wilson on

's ''

''. He played shopkeeper Ahmed alongside

Toby Jones Tobias Edward Heslewood Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com (born 7 September 1966) is an English actor. Jones made his film debut in Sally Potter's period drama ''Orlando'' in 1992. He ...

in the BBC mini-series ''

Capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

'', and DS Ira King in the BBC's ''

River A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

''. Reviewing ''River'' in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', Michael Hogan wrote, "This series was beautifully written by Abi Morgan, stylishly directed, and most of all, superbly acted. The quieter, less showy supporting players also shone. Not just stalwarts ..but fresher faces: Adeel Akhtar as River's endlessly patient sidekick and Georgina Rich as his psychiatrist". In 2016 Akhtar appeared as Shahzad in the BBC one-off drama '' Murdered by My Father''. He won the

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

BAFTA award for Lead Actor for this role, the first non-white actor to do so. In 2017 he also took part in the American romantic comedy film '' The Big Sick'', playing the role of the protagonist's brother, Naveed. He appeared as Rob Singhal in the acclaimed BBC miniseries based on

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

's ''

The Night Manager ''The Night Manager'' is an espionage novel by British writer John le Carré, published in 1993. It is his first post-Cold War novel, detailing an undercover operation to bring down a major international arms dealer. Plot summary Jonathan Pin ...

''. In 2019, Akhtar appeared as Billy in the critically acclaimed BBC Three series, '' Back to Life'', written by Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon, returning in 2021 for the second series.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

*2008: '' The Colonel'' as Zero (Theatre Absolute) *2008: ''In My Name'' as Zaeem ( Old Red Lion &

Trafalgar Studios Trafalgar Theatre is a new West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London. It is set to open in spring 2021 following a major multi-million pound restoration project aiming to reinstate it back to its o ...

) *2009: ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their turbulent r ...

'' as Yusuf ( Tamasha Theatre Company) *2010: ''

Satyagraha Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone ...

'' (Ensemble) (

Improbable theatre Improbable is an English theatre company founded in 1996 by Lee Simpson, Phelim McDermott, Julian Crouch (artistic directors) and producer Nick Sweeting. Improbable is funded by Arts Council England in London. According to their statement: "Improb ...

) *2011–2012: ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depi ...

'' as Guildenstern and Francisco ( Young Vic Theatre)

Accolades

References

External links

* *
Adeel Akhtar
o
Stages of Half Moon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akhtar, Adeel 1980 births Living people English male film actors English male stage actors English male television actors English people of Pakistani descent Actors Studio alumni 21st-century English male actors Male actors from London English people of Kenyan descent British film actors of Pakistani descent People educated at Cheltenham College Best Actor BAFTA Award (television) winners

Early life

Career

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Accolades

References

Further reading

External links