Jeffrey Mirza (born 3 February 1964) is a British stand-up comedian and actor.

Early life

Mirza was born as Jeffrey Mirza and brought up in East End of

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 ...

, England on 3 February 1964 to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

i parents. His family are from the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

region of

and are of

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

descent. His maternal grandfather was Dr Mirza Taj Baig, a doctor with the rank of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

and one of the first South Asians to be a

Commissioned Officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. His paternal grandfather (Abdur Rehman Mirza) was a Zaildar (Headman for 40 villages) in the princely state of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

before the Partition. His family came from

and settled in the UK in the early 1950s. Mirza attended Barking Abbey Comprehensive School. At the age of 12, he was caned (beaten with a stick by a teacher) to punish him for doing an impression of the television character

Columbo ''Columbo'' is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Columbo (character), Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originall ...

. At the age of 14, Mirza had his first stint at live comedy when he told anecdotes about his summer holiday trip to

for assembly at

Loxford High School Loxford is an area of Ilford in the London Borough of Redbridge in east London, UK. It is a built-up, multi-ethnic locality. History The medieval manor of Loxford was in the possession of Barking Abbey and in 1319 the Abbess of Barking was lic ...

. After graduating from the

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Po ...

with a Bachelor in Civil Engineering degree and a master's degree in Engineering, he informally began performing with a comedy groups called The Men from ChaCha. One of their famous sketches was a dance parody of the

Chippendales Chippendales is a touring dance troupe best known for its male striptease performances and for its dancers' distinctive upper body costume of a bow tie, collar, and shirt cuffs worn on an otherwise bare torso with jeans and undergarment. Est ...

called "The Chappattidales".

Stand-up career

In 1993, Mirza won the

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as "the most beautiful theat ...

East West Quest and he went solo into stand-up and since then has not looked back. He has written pieces for magazines and is well known on the London comedy circuit. In 1995, he was a finalist in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Open Mic Award for The Stand up Show at the Edinburgh festival. The same year (1995) he co-starred in a full-length show with Scottish Comedian Brian Higgins in a show called 'Haggis & Curry'. Since that initial success he gave up his job as a structural engineer and began work as a full-time stand-up comedian. In the Asian comedy field he has worked with and for the 'One Nation. ..lnnit!' Team based at Watermans in Brentford and has also played all the major comedy clubs and is a regular at Jongleurs Comedy Clubs. In 2003, he performed his show ''Walking With Muslims'' at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

. The show 'Walking with Muslims' coincided with the 2003 Iraq War and gained worldwide acclaim as Jeff Mirza appeared as dictator Saddam Hussein who was on the run at the time. He has played the comedy circuit in London including Jongleurs and

The Comedy Store The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California. History The Comedy ...

. He has performed all over the world, and is the first British Muslim comedian ever to perform stand-up comedy to sell out shows in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. He is regularly involved with interfaith dialogue between different communities and often called in to lighten-up and moderate contentious debates between multi-faith conservatives. In July 2011, Mirza toured four UK cities in the Peace Youth and Community Trust's (PYCT) first Muslim Comedy Tour, alongside

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 ...

Prince Abdi Prince Abdi (born 21 July 1989) is a British stand-up comedian and actor. Early life Abdi was born in Somalia and immigrated to the United Kingdom with his family in the 1980s at the age of four. He was thereafter brought up in Brixton, Londo ...

and

Nabil Abdul Rashid Mohamed Nasir Nabil Abdul Rashid bin Suleman Obineche, known as Nabil Abdulrashid (born 3 September 1985) is an English comedian, In 2010, at the age of 25, he became the youngest black comedian to perform stand-up at the Hammersmith Apollo. Ea ...

. From June to 28 August 2011, he presented a series of eight programmes in the world's first interfaith game show called ''Faith Off'' on the

Islam Channel Islam Channel is a UK-based, free-to-air, English language, Islamic-focused satellite television channel and online media platform funded by advertising and donations. It was founded in 2004 by Mohamed Ali Harrath (born 1963), a Tunisian acti ...

at the

Underbelly Underbelly is the side of something that is not normally seen. Figuratively, it means a vulnerable or weak part, similar to the term Achilles' heel, or alternatively, a hidden, illicit side of society. This term could refer to: Business * U ...

Cowgate The Cowgate (Scots language, Scots: The Cougait) is a street in Edinburgh, Scotland, located about southeast of Edinburgh Castle, within the city's World Heritage Site. The street is part of the lower level of Edinburgh's Old Town, Edinburgh, ...

, Edinburgh. He also performed his show ''Jihad: Heresy Or Hearsay''. He has also appeared at the Leicester Comedy Festival and Glastonbury Festival. Mirza is now developing a television sitcom and writing new material for a world tour.

Acting career

Mirza's film credits include "

What's Love Got to do with it What's Love Got to Do with It may refer to: Related to Tina Turner * "What's Love Got to Do with It" (song), a 1984 song by Tina Turner; covered by Warren G, 1996 * ''What's Love Got to Do with It'' (1993 film), a 1993 biographical film about Turne ...

", ''

Blinded by the Light "Blinded by the Light" is a song written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen, which first appeared on his 1973 debut album ''Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.'' A cover by British rock band Manfred Mann's Earth Band reached number one on the Billb ...

'', '' Mogul Mowgli'', ''

It Was an Accident ''It Was an Accident'' is a 2000 British comedy film directed by Metin Hüseyin, written by Ol Parker and produced by Paul Goodman, based on the novel of the same name by Jeremy Cameron and starring Thandiwe Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Max Bees ...

'' and ''

Desi Boyz ''Desi Boyz'' is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by debutant Rohit Dhawan, son of director David Dhawan. The film stars Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Deepika Padukone and Chitrangada Singh while Sanjay Dutt features in ...

''. His television appearances include ''

White Teeth ''White Teeth'' is British author Zadie Smith's debut novel, published in 2000. It focuses on the later lives of two wartime friends—the Bangladeshi Samad Iqbal and the Englishman Archie Jones—and their families in London. The novel centres ...

'', ''

Chuckle Vision ''ChuckleVision'' is a British children's comedy television series created by Martin Hughes and the Chuckle Brothers for the BBC. It starred Barry and Paul Elliott as the Chuckle Brothers and occasionally their older brothers, Jimmy, and Brian ...

'', '' Murder in Mind'' and ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

''.

Awards and recognition

In 1995, reached the finals off the BBC Open Mic Award. In 2001, Mirza won the "Best Comedian" award in the BT

Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy The Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy (EMMA) is a British organization that raises awareness of discrimination through media campaigns and social networking. The EMMA Awards was founded in 1997 by Bobby Syed and "seeks to promote diversity withi ...

Awards. In 2003, he won the

Comedy award which was held at London's

Dorchester Hotel The Dorchester is a five-star hotel located on Park Lane and Deanery Street in London, to the east of Hyde Park. It is one of the world's most prestigious hotels. The Dorchester opened on 18 April 1931, and it still retains its 1930s furnis ...

where the chief guest was Sir

Richard Attenborough Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, film director, and Film producer, producer. Attenborough was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Acade ...

. The other nominees were

Richard Blackwood Richard Clifford Blackwood (born 15 May 1972) is a British actor, presenter, and rapper. Between 2015 and 2018, he played Vincent Hubbard in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. In 2020, he began portraying the role of Felix Westwood in the Chan ...

Felix Dexter Felix Dexter (26 July 1961
''

< ...

and

Gina Yashere Regina Obedapo Iyashere (born 6 April 1974) is a British comedian, actress and writer who has made numerous appearances on British and American television. She co-created the American sitcom '' Bob Hearts Abishola'', on which she plays a support ...

. In 2018 Jeff Mirza was Awarded a BEFFTA Legends Award.

Personal life

Mirza is a

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

football fan. He is married and has children.

Filmography

Television

Film

References

External links

* * *Gibbons, Fiachra
Jeff Mirza: Walking With Muslims
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. 4 August 2003
Jeff Mirza, British Comedian Dressed As Gaddafi, Attacked
''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

''. 21 August 2011
Comedian attacked while wearing Gadhafi costume
''

The San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the H ...

''. 21 August 2011
Jeff Mirza’s Jihad; Heresy or Hearsay?
Underbelly, Cowgate, Edinburgh. 4 to 28 August 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mirza, Jeff 1964 births Living people English Muslims English people of Pakistani descent English male comedians English stand-up comedians English impressionists (entertainers) Muslim male comedians British comedians of Pakistani descent English male actors English male television actors English male film actors British actors of Pakistani descent 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors Comedians from London Male actors from London Alumni of the University of London