Amit Kaushik Shah (born 26 April 1981) is a British actor who was

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

nominated for his role as Faisal Bhatti in the AMC/BBC hit third series of '' Happy Valley''. He is known for his roles in the ITV series '' Mr Bates vs The Post Office'' (2024) and the

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 ...

comedy-drama '' Crashing'' (2016). His films include '' Pain Hustlers'' (2023), '' Final Score'' (2018), and '' The Courier'' (2019).

Early life

Amit Shah was born in Enfield, England. Shah's parents were originally from Kenya, and his grandparents from

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, India. His father is an accountant, and his mother is a health-food shop manager. Shah was cast as the lead in a school play at the age of 16. He read drama at

Staffordshire University The University of Staffordshire is a public research university in Staffordshire, England. It has its main campus in Stoke-on-Trent and four other campuses in Stafford, Lichfield, Shrewsbury, and London. History In 1901, industrialist Alfred ...

and then went on to train at the

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. In ...

in West London. In 2003 he was given permission by the principal to graduate early so that he could begin rehearsals for ''

Bombay Dreams ''Bombay Dreams'' is a Bollywood-themed musical, with music by A. R. Rahman, lyrics by Don Black and the book by Meera Syal and Thomas Meehan, originally produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The London production opened in 2002 and ran for two ...

'', a West-End musical produced by

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948) is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End theatre, West End and on Broadway theatre, Broad ...

Acting career

In 2006, Shah was offered a part in ''

The Royal Hunt of the Sun ''The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' is a 1964 play by Peter Shaffer that dramatizes the relation of two worlds entering in a conflict by portraying two characters: Atahuallpa Inca and Francisco Pizarro. Performance history Premiere ''The Royal H ...

'' at the National Theatre; the same part that

Derek Jacobi Sir Derek George Jacobi (; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen as well as for his work at the Royal National Theatre, he has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, a BAFTA Award, two ...

played in the original production in 1964. He stayed on at the National Theatre to perform three plays, including '' The Alchemist'' directed by

Nicholas Hytner Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner ( ; born 7 May 1956) is an English theatre director, film director, and film producer. He was previously the Artistic Director of London's National Theatre. His major successes as director include ''Miss Saigon'', '' ...

, for which he was nominated for an Ian Charleson Award. He also portrayed a principal role in ''

The Man of Mode ''The Man of Mode, or, Sir Fopling Flutter'' is a Restoration comedy by George Etherege, written in 1676. The play is set in Restoration London and follows the womanizer Dorimant as he tries to win over the young heiress Harriet and to dise ...

'', alongside Tom Hardy,

Rory Kinnear Rory Michael Kinnear (born 17 February 1978) is an English actor. He won two Olivier Awards, both at the National Theatre, in 2008 for his portrayal of Sir Fopling Flutter in ''The Man of Mode'', and for playing the William Shakespeare villain ...

and

Hayley Atwell Hayley Elizabeth Atwell (born 5 April 1982) is an English and American actress. After appearing in various West End productions, Atwell gained popularity for her roles in period dramas, appearing in the films ''Brideshead Revisited'' (2008), '' ...

. Shah has starred in a variety of television shows since 2006. His most notable roles include Sunny 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 '' Hospital People'', Fred in

's '' Crashing,'' Torque in ''

The Witcher ''The Witcher'' (, ) is a series of 9 fantasy novels and 15 short stories by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the eponymous witcher, Geralt of Rivia. Witchers are monster hunters given superhuman abilities for the ...

'' for

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, and Faisal Bhatti in Happy Valley. Shah's first major part in a feature film was in 2014 for '' The Hundred-Foot Journey'' in which he starred alongside

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (; born Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov; 26 July 1945) is an English actor. With a career spanning over six decades of Helen Mirren on screen and stage, screen and stage, List of awards and nominations received by Helen Mirre ...

and

Om Puri Om Prakash Puri, (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Urdu, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, English, Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu, and Marathi films, as well as ind ...

. He has since been cast in '' Johnny English Strikes Again'', '' Ordinary Love'', and ''

Last Christmas "Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!. Written and produced by George Michael, it was released on 3 December 1984 via CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side via Epic Records with " Everything She Wants" in several Eur ...

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

References

Sources

Amit Shah interview on easterneye.biz

Amit Shah interview re his character Jeremy in ''The Rebel''.

Amit Shah's Troika page

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Amit 1981 births Living people 21st-century English male actors Actors from the London Borough of Enfield Alumni of Staffordshire University Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art English male film actors English male stage actors English male television actors English people of Gujarati descent English people of Indian descent British people of Indo-Kenyan descent English people of Kenyan descent Male actors from London