Ali Shahalom (; born 15 October 1992), also known by his stage name Ali Official, is an English comedian and television presenter of Bangladeshi descent.

Early life

Shahalom was born in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. He studied drama and theatre at

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

and

A-level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

. He moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to study at university. He then went on to work as a Digital Marketing Assistant for

Warner Bros Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American film studio, filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and th ...

Career

Since April 2011, Shahalom and his younger brother, Shaheen (born in 2001), have hosted their channel on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

called Aliofficial1 with comedy sketches. Their comedy videos often relate to their Bengali heritage and culture, and have subsequently attracted a large South-Asian following. In July 2013, Shahalom appeared on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's month-long documentary series, ''Ramadan Diaries''. In 2014, he was featured in two episodes of the comedy web series ''

Corner Shop Show ''Corner Shop Show'' is a British comedy drama web series that premiered on YouTube in March 2014. The series is created by Islah Abdur-Rahman and consists of continuous episodes uploaded on his YouTube channel CornerShopShow, following the a ...

''. Since May of the same year, he has hosted ''The Variety Show'' on

Channel S Channel S () is a UK-based, free-to-air television channel targeting the British Bangladeshi community. The channel was established on 16 December 2004 by Mahee Ferdous Jalil, a Bangladeshi businessman in London. On Sky (UK & Ireland), Sky it ...

, broadcast live every fortnight on Saturday at 8.30 pm. In July 2015, he collaborated with

Humza Arshad Humza Mohammed Arshad (; born 3 June 1985) is an English actor, comedian and writer of Pakistani descent. He produces the web series '' Diary of a Bad Man'' (2010–2013) and '' Badman'' (2015–present). His homemade YouTube videos have been ...

on episode 19 of ''Badman's World''. In October 2015, he performed on the "Sounds of Light" tour with musicians Safe Adam and Harris J. In December 2015, he went on a 20 city national tour with the comedy trio Allah Made Me Funny and

Guz Khan Ghulam Dastgir Khan (; born 24 January 1986), also known as Guz Khan, is a British comedian and actor. His TV appearances include '' Man Like Mobeen'', '' Taskmaster'' (series 12), '' Our Flag Means Death'' (series 1) and stand-up performances ...

. Throughout 2017, Ali worked with BBC to script and star in

Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia social media and instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of the app are that pictures and messages, known as "snaps", are usually availa ...

content, which went on to win a Social Buzz Award and a

Digiday ''Digiday'' is an online trade magazine for online media founded in 2008 by Nick Friese. It is headquartered in New York City, with offices in London and Tokyo. Description ''Digiday'' provides daily online news about advertising, publishing, a ...

Award. In February 2017, Ali made a special guest appearance on BBC One's musical show '' Let It Shine''. In March 2017, Ali helped with the social media planning for

's documentary ''Extremely British Muslims''. In April 2017, he did four shows across the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In May 2017, Ali performed at the

West Yorkshire Playhouse Leeds Playhouse is a theatre in the city centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1990 in the Quarry Hill area of the city as the West Yorkshire Playhouse, successor to the original Leeds Playhouse, and was rebranded in June 2018 ...

for

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 ...

's ''Comedy Night''.

Recognition

In October 2016, Shahalom was named one of the "Young British Muslim Millennials Changing The World" by ''

The Asian Today ''The Asian Today'' is a free fortnightly community newspaper published and distributed in the Midlands, England. It is a community newspaper providing the region's south-Asian community access to important news stories, current events and en ...

''.

References

1992 births 21st-century Bengalis 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the University of Westminster British Internet celebrities Comedians from Devon English film directors English male comedians English male web series actors English people of Bangladeshi descent English Sunni Muslims English television presenters English video bloggers English YouTubers Living people Male actors from Devon Muslim male comedians {{UK-tv-bio-stub

Early life

Career

Recognition

See also

References