Raj Ghatak is a British actor. He is known for diverse roles across stage and screen, notably as Sweetie in

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 and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musica ...

's Bollywood musical ''

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 tw ...

'' and, as Grayson in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

drama '' Dead Set'' written by Emmy-winning

Charlie Brooker Charlton Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English television presenter, writer, producer and satirist. He is the creator and co-showrunner of the sci-fi drama anthology series ''Black Mirror'', and has written for comedy series such as ''Bras ...

. In 2018, Ghatak won the Eastern Eye ACTA Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Amir in ''

The Kite Runner ''The Kite Runner'' is the first novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. Published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, it tells the story of Amir, a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul. The story is set against a backdrop ...

'' on stage. From 2020 to 2021, he appeared in the BBC soap opera '' Doctors'' as

Aashiq Sawney ''Doctors'' is a British medical soap opera which began broadcasting on BBC One on 26 March 2000. Set in the fictional West Midlands town of Letherbridge, the soap follows the lives of the staff and patients of the Mill Health Centre, a fictiona ...

Career

Stage

Ghatak has worked extensively on stage, and in many original ground-breaking productions. His first professional job was at the award-winning Tara Arts in a production directed by artistic director

Jatinder Verma Jatinder Verma, MBE (born 1954), is a British theatre director and activist, who in 1977 co-founded the British Asian theatre company Tara Arts, leading it as artistic director.Bosanquet, Theo (15 January 2020)"Big Interviews: Jatinder Verma" ''Th ...

MBE. Ghatak appeared in '' East is East'' (Oldham Coliseum), ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid- ...

'' (Prince of Wales Theatre, London), and ''Hijra'' (The Bush Theatre and West Yorkshire Playhouse). In 2002, Ghatak landed a leading role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's production of A. R. Rahman's ''Bombay Dreams'' at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, London, directed by

Steven Pimlott Steven Charles Pimlott (18 April 1953 – 14 February 2007) was an English opera and theatre director, whose obituary in ''The Times'' hailed him as "one of the most versatile and inventive theatre directors of his generation". His output ran ...

, where he was cast alongside Raza Jaffrey and Preeya Kalidas. Ghatak was nominated for Best Actor, and Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for his portrayal of Sweetie and scored unanimous rave reviews; "Raj Ghatak steals the show" (Roger Foss, ''What's On''). In 2007, Ghatak appeared at the world-famous

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal ...

in Anupama Chandrasekhar's play ''Free Outgoing''. Charles Spencer of ''The Telegraph'' wrote: "Raj Ghatak is outstanding as a friend in need who might not be what he seems." The play was performed twice at the Royal Court, and once at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. Ghatak's other notable performances at the Royal Court Theatre include ''Shades/Unheard Voices'', ''The Spiral'', ''Rough Cuts'' and the ground-breaking ''The Low Road'' by Pulitzer Prize-winning Bruce Norris and multi Olivier Award-winning director Dominic Cooke. Further stage highlights include performances in Soho Cinders, nominated for Best New Musical, directed by Jonathan Buttrell who also directed Ghatak in the musical '' Everybody’s Talking About Jamie''. This production went on to the Apollo Theatre in London and has since been adapted into a film. In 2017, Ghatak was cast as the lead of Miss Meena in ''Miss Meena and the Masala Queens''. In 2018, Ghatak was invited to play the lead role of Amir in ''

'' the page-to-stage adaptation of the multimillion bestseller by

Khaled Hosseini Khaled Hosseini (;Pashto/Dari ; born March 4, 1965) is an Afghan-American novelist, UNHCR goodwill ambassador, and former physician. His debut novel ''The Kite Runner'' (2003) was a critical and commercial success; the book and his subsequent ...

. Both Ghatak's portrayal of Amir and the production earned standing ovations and sensational reviews, with Chris High reviewing "Raj Ghatak's performance of Amir, the story's narrator, is breathtakingly bold and vibrant. A powerful and tumultuous mix of touching self-awareness and pig-headed selfishness, Amir both warms and chills the heart whilst searching for acceptance and Ghatak's prowess truly shines from the very first moment he steps on stage; a platform he does not leave until the final light goes out, having delivered a performance that can only be described as energy-sapping as it is glorious." For his portrayal of Amir, Ghatak won the Eastern Eye ACTA Award for Best Actor. Following on from ''The Kite Runner'', Ghatak joined the original cast in the first stage version of Yann Martell’s novel ''

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, India who explores issues of spirituality and metaphysics from an early age. He ...

'' at the Sheffield Crucible. Lolita Chakrabharti's adaptation, featuring the puppetry of Gyre and Gimble and directed by Max Webster, won Best New Play, Best Director, Best Design and a Best Actor award in the UK Theatre Awards 2019.

Screen

Ghatak has appeared on a number television shows in the United Kingdom; as Ranjeev in '' All About Me'', guest lead as Jemima in ''

Synchronicity Synchronicity (german: Synchronizität) is a concept first introduced by analytical psychologist Carl G. Jung "to describe circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection." In contemporary research, synchronicity ...

'', '' Doctors'' for the BBC, BAFTA-nominated The 7.39, BAFTA-nominated '' Hetty Feather'' and the BAFTA-winning ''Taboo'', with Tom Hardy, directed by

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades th ...

. He was a series regular Grayson in the horror series '' Dead Set'', written by

(''

Black Mirror ''Black Mirror'' is a British anthology television series created by Charlie Brooker. Individual episodes explore a diversity of genres, but most are set in near-future dystopias with science fiction technology—a type of speculative ficti ...

'') and directed by Yann Demange. In 2016 and 2019, Ghatak appeared in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'' as Dr. Vikram Suresh, and in November 2020, he began appearing in the BBC soap opera '' Doctors'' as

, making his final appearance in February 2021. Later in 2021, he is set to appear in the

fourth series Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

of '' Ackley Bridge'' as Asif, a recurring character. In film, Ghatak has appeared in a wide variety of projects, including ''

Birthday Girl ''Birthday Girl'' is a 2001 erotic comedy thriller film directed by Jez Butterworth. The plot focuses on English bank clerk John Buckingham, who orders a Russian mail-order bride, Nadia. It becomes clear upon her arrival that Nadia cannot sp ...

'' with Nicole Kidman, seminal British comedy '' Starter for 10'' with

James McAvoy James McAvoy (; born 21 April 1979) is a Scottish actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in '' The Near Room'' (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his feature film career began. His notable television work includes ...

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, Mark Gatiss, Rebecca Hall and Dominic Cooper. Ghatak played the lead in the short film ''Diary of a Thagee'', which achieved a Best Thriller Nomination, the short film ''Karma Magnet'' and ''Defrosted''. In 2013, Ghatak was asked to play Rab Patel in ''

Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie ''Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie'' is a 2014 Irish comedy film based on the sitcom '' Mrs. Brown's Boys'' and is co-produced by That's Nice Films, Penalty Kick Films, RTÉ and BocFlix. BBC Films is acting as sales agent and it was distributed by Un ...

'', the film version of the television series. He also appeared in Disney's 2018 ''

Christopher Robin Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and '' Winnie-the-Pooh'' stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disne ...

'' with Ewan McGregor in the titular role.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghatak, Raj British male actors of Indian descent British people of Bengali descent Indian emigrants to England English male film actors English male television actors Living people Year of birth missing (living people)