Iqbal Theba ( ; born 20 December 1963) is a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

actor, known for his recurring role as Principal Figgins in the show ''

Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...

''.

Early life

Theba was born in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, Pakistan. He belongs to the Sindhi-speaking Theba tribe. Theba attended the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

for civil engineering in 1981, but dropped out to pursue an acting career in New York. He has a BS degree in Construction Engineering Management. Theba returned to the University of Oklahoma in 1986 to get a theater degree, and moved to Los Angeles, California upon graduating.

Career

Theba experienced an early career break with a role on the

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television pilot ''Death and Taxes''. While the pilot was not picked up to series, it led to a recurring role for Theba on '' The George Carlin Show''. Theba also had brief recurring roles on '' Married... with Children'' and '' ER''. He had a recurring role in ABC/

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

comedy sitcom '' Family Matters''. His other credits include appearances on '' Nip/Tuck'', '' Alias'', ''

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'', '' Bosch'', ''

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'', '' Kitchen Confidential'', ''

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'', '' JAG'', ''

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'', ''

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'', '' The Tick'', ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where t ...

'', ''

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'', ''

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'' '' Sister Sister'', ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

'', ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', and '' Transformers: Dark of the Moon''. Theba also appeared in an episode of the sitcom '' Yes, Dear''. In 2009, 2010, and 2013, Theba guest starred in three episodes of NBC's ''Community'' as Gobi Nadir, the father of Abed Nadir (played by

Danny Pudi Daniel Mark Pudi (born March 10, 1979) is an American actor and director. His roles include Abed Nadir on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), for which he received three nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supp ...

). He also guest starred on CBS' '' NCIS'' in 2012. He also was seen on the eighth episode of the eighth season of ''

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, or Midtown West on real estate listings, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, ...

'', attending the 100th dinner service. In 2017, Theba voiced Slav in season 2 of '' Voltron: Legendary Defender''. Theba played General Umair Zaman, a Pakistani general who stages a military coup, on the HBO comedy series '' The Brink''.

''Glee'' (2009–15)

Theba's longest-running role has been as Principal Figgins in the Fox television series ''

''. Throughout the course of the six seasons, Theba appeared in 58 episodes. Although Figgins was initially conceived as

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, Theba was cast in the role. He said playing Figgins entails finding "the right mix of someone who is an authority figure but who is also very insecure about his own strengths as a person." In 2012, Theba appeared on the first and ninth episodes of the second season of '' The Glee Project''.

Personal life

He is married and has two children: a son, Mikael, and a daughter, Ranya.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Theba, Iqbal 1963 births Living people Muhajir people American actors of Pakistani descent American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American people of Gujarati descent Muslims from Oklahoma 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American people of Sindhi descent Male actors from Karachi Pakistani emigrants to the United States Pakistani male television actors Pakistani people of Gujarati descent Sindhi male actors