Antonio Aakeel is an English actor, known for starring in the Apple TV Series ''

Slow Horses ''Slow Horses'' is a British spy thriller television series based on the '' Slough House'' series of novels by Mick Herron, created by Will Smith. It follows an MI5 unit where disgraced or failed agents are consigned, under the supervision of J ...

'' and leading the film '' Eaten by Lions'', for which he was named a

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

Star of Tomorrow by Screen Daily. He also appeared in ''

Tomb Raider ''Tomb Raider'', known as ''Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'' from 2001 to 2008, is a media franchise that originated with an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game series created by British video game developer Core Design. The franchise i ...

'' and the

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 ...

award-winning series '' Three Girls''.

Early life

Antonio Aakeel was born Antonio Khela in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and moved around the West Midlands as a child. He was inspired to pursue acting after being given a one-line role in a school nativity play and subsequently began acting in local theatre. He speaks

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Career

Film

Aakeel gained his first leading feature role in the film '' Eaten by Lions'' as Omar, a young man in search of his estranged father. The film had a wide cinematic release in April 2019 and also starred comedians

Johnny Vegas Michael Joseph Pennington (born 5 September 1970), better known as Johnny Vegas, is an English actor, comedian, director and writer. He is known for his thick Lancashire accent, husky voice, angry comedic rants, and use of surreal humour. Ve ...

, Jack Carroll and

Asim Chaudhry Asim Chaudhry (born 24 November 1986) is a British comedian, writer, director, rapper and actor best known for playing Chabud "Chabuddy G" Gul in the BBC mockumentary series '' People Just Do Nothing'', which he co-created. For this role, he wo ...

. Screen Daily announced Aakeel would be leading Abid Khan's debut feature ''

Granada Nights ''Granada Nights'' is a 2021 coming-of-age film directed by Abid Khan starring Antonio Aakeel, Quintessa Swindell, Tábata Cerezo and Óscar Casas Óscar Casas (born 21 September 1998) is a Spanish actor. Biography Óscar Casas was born o ...

'' as Ben, a heartbroken British tourist on a journey of hedonism and discovery in

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

, Spain. He appeared opposite Oscar-winner

Alicia Vikander Alicia Amanda Vikander (; ; born 3 October 1988) is a Swedish actress. List of awards and nominations received by Alicia Vikander, Her accolades include an Academy Award and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and three British Academy Film ...

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

' 2018 ''

'' reboot, directed by

Roar Uthaug Roar Uthaug (born August 25, 1973) is a Norwegian film director. He graduated from the Norwegian Film School in 2002. Career Uthaug's graduation film ''The Martin Administration'' was the second Norwegian student-film in history to be nominated ...

. In 2016, Aakeel was cast alongside

Riz Ahmed Rizwan Ahmed (; born ) is a British actor and rapper. He has received several awards, including an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award with nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and two British Academy Film Awards. In 2017, he was name ...

and

Billie Piper Billie Paul Piper (born Leian Paul Piper; 22 September 1982) is an English actress and former singer who is best known for her portrayal as Rose Tyler in ''Doctor Who'' (2005–2006, 2008, 2010). She initially gained recognition as a singer a ...

in the London crime thriller '' City of Tiny Lights'' directed by

winner

Pete Travis Pete Travis is a British television and film director. His work includes ''Cold Feet'' (1999), '' The Jury'' (2002) and ''Omagh'' (2004) for television and '' Vantage Point'' (2008), '' Endgame'' (2009), '' Dredd'' (2012) and '' City of Tiny Li ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

2016 and released in UK cinemas April 2017. Later that year, Aakeel landed a supporting role in '' The Hungry'', Film London's contemporary feature adaptation of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Titus Andronicus ''The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus'', often shortened to ''Titus Andronicus'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first t ...

playing troubled brother to

Life of Pi ''Life of Pi'' is a Canadian philosophical novel by Yann Martel published in 2001. The protagonist is Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, who explores issues of spirituality and metaphysics from an early age. After a ...

Suraj Sharma Suraj Sharma (born 16 March 1993) is an Indian actor who made his debut in the 2012 film ''Life of Pi (film), Life of Pi''. Directed by Ang Lee, the film was adapted from the Life of Pi, novel of the same name, and earned Sharma critical acclai ...

. The Film premiered under special presentations at the 2017

. In 2015, he appeared as Raza in feature film '' The Contract'', written by

David Marconi David Marconi is an American screenwriter, film producer and film director. His writing credits include the screenplays for '' Enemy of the State'', ''Live Free or Die Hard ''Live Free or Die Hard'' (released as ''Die Hard 4.0'' outside No ...

and directed by Nic Auerbach. Aakeel starred as Nasir Baloch in the political short film '' The Line of Freedom'', directed by David Whitney. The film depicts the true story of a murdered student rights activist and premiered at the

Dubai International Film Festival The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF, ) was the largest film festival in the Arab world, Arab region. With particular emphasis on showcasing Arab cinema, Arab, Asian cinema, Asian, and African cinema, it also helped to develop industry a ...

. Upon its release, the film immediately met with controversy and was subsequently prohibited in Pakistan.

Television

Aakeel gained his first television role in the E4 series '' Skins''. He then led an episode of

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 '' Moving On'' playing Mati, a young refugee whose leave to remain is revoked on his eighteenth birthday. Directed by

Reece Dinsdale Reece Dinsdale (born 6 August 1959) is an English actor and director. His credits include '' Threads'' (1984), '' A Private Function'' (1984), '' Winter Flight'' (1984), ''Home to Roost'' (1985—1990), ''Haggard'' (1990), '' ID'' (1994), ''H ...

, the episode won 'Best Daytime Programme' at the

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 ...

Awards in 2018. In May 2017, he appeared in

's three-part BAFTA winning drama '' Three Girls'' directed by

Philippa Lowthorpe Philippa Lowthorpe (born 27 December 1961) is an English film and television director. She was awarded the Deluxe Director Award at the WFTV Film and Television Awards for the miniseries '' Three Girls''. She recently directed episodes of the ...

. In 2019, Aakeel appeared in two episodes of 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 ...

drama series ''

Ackley Bridge ''Ackley Bridge'' is a British comedy drama series set in a multicultural academy school of the same name. The series is set in the fictional town of Ackley, and filmed in Halifax, West Yorkshire and it began broadcasting on Channel 4 on 7 Jun ...

'' as Anwar Wazir. Later that year, Aakeel began portraying the recurring role of Rafael Hyland in the

thriller series '' Dublin Murders''.

Video game

Aakeel gained his first video game role in the ''

Immortals of Aveum ''Immortals of Aveum'' is a 2023 first-person shooter game developed by Ascendant Studios and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on August 22, 2023. It received mixed reviews from ...

'' as Devyn.

Theatre

Aakeel was cast in the title role in the stage adaptation of ''Guantanamo Boy''. The play ran at the

Half Moon Theatre The Half Moon Theatre Company was formed in 1972 in a rented synagogue in Alie Street, Whitechapel, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. ''Half Moon Passage'' was the name of a nearby alley. The founders, Michael Irving and Maurice Colbour ...

and toured nationally at Middle Temple Hall,

Almeida Theatre The Almeida Theatre is a 325-seat producing house located on Almeida Street off Upper Street in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre opened in 1980, and produces a diverse range of drama. Successful plays are often transferred to West E ...

The Hat Factory The Hat Factory is an arts facility in the centre of Luton, England that seeks to develop the arts in the town and surrounding region. The Hat Factory opened in April 2004, and includes theatre, music, comedy, dance and film programmes. The Hat ...

Mercury Theatre The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury also r ...

, Burnley Youth Theatre and The Drum Theatre.

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. Founded in 1880, ''The Stage'' contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at thos ...

's Susan Elkin wrote Aakeel "is great as the distraught, anguished, terrified Khalid. The downhill spiral followed by the final return of a damaged-for-life boy to Rochdale is well handled too. He has a very expressive face." In 2015, he played the lead role of Artie in ''Waiting for Garbo'' at the

Crescent Theatre The Crescent Theatre is a multi-venue theatre run mostly by volunteers in Birmingham City Centre. It is part of the Brindleyplace development on Sheepcote Street. It has a resident company, one of the oldest theatre companies in the city, and ...

as part of the Birmingham Theatre Festival. Love Midlands Theatre reviewed the performance, commenting his "portrayal of a brash New Yorker falling apart is utterly convincing." Antonio has also performed locally with

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

based theatre company Round Midnight.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aakeel, Antonio Living people 21st-century English male actors English male film actors English male stage actors English male television actors English people of Indian descent Male actors from Wolverhampton 20th-century births Year of birth missing (living people)