Raj Parmar (born 1 November 1981) is a British-Indian

Bollywood dance Hindi dance music encompasses a wide range of songs predominantly featured in the Hindi cinema with a growing worldwide attraction. The music became popular among overseas Indians in places such as South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, the Caribbean, ...

r, choreographer, and television and radio personality. Best known for his work with

Sunrise Radio Sunrise Radio is a 24-hour Asian commercial radio station, focusing on entertainment, music and news from the Indian subcontinent. It broadcasts to the Greater London area on 963/972 AM, nationally on DAB through the Sound Digital multiplex, ...

as a presenter on the ''Urban Masti Show'', Raj began his career as a trained media professional. Raj is a professional dancer, establishing his own dance troupe and performing in melas across the UK. In 2014 he appeared in

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 ...

's reality series '' Big Ballet''.

Early life and presenting work

Parmar grew up in

Hounslow Hounslow ( ) is a large suburban district of West London, England, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 14 metropolitan cen ...

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...

before moving to

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

at the age of 10. With connections to radio station Sunrise, Raj was offered unique exposure to the media world from an early age, training as a presenter and going on to host the ''Urban Masti Show''. In his work as a presenter for Sunrise Radio, Raj has interviewed several luminaries from the

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

and

Lollywood Lollywood is Pakistan's film industry, which has served as the base for both Urdu- and Punjabi-language film production. Lahore has been the center of Pakistani cinema since independence in 1947. However, with the Urdu film hub largel ...

industries, including

Akshay Kumar Akshay Hari Om Bhatia (born Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia; 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian actor and film producer working in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as "Khiladi Kumar", through his career span ...

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, Rajeshwari Sachdev,

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and

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. As well as celebrity interviews, Raj began managing and marketing the station, becoming one of the youngest directors in the broadcasting industry. Alongside his presenting work with Sunrise, Raj has hosted a number of live stage events and is a mainstay at the Bradford mela.

Dance career

Raj has been involved in several melas as a dancer. His unique choreography has resulted in choreography jobs for several British Asian music videos, as well as an MTV show. Raj opened his own Bollywood dance academy, Spice Entertainment, in 1999. Alongside hosting training courses at the academy, he regularly conducts many dance workshops at schools, community centres and arts organisations such as Kala Sangam.

Acting work

In 2006, Raj landed acting roles in the films '' Casino Royale'' and ''

Mischief Night Mischief Night is an informal holiday on which children, teenagers and adults engage in jokes, pranks, vandalism, or parties. It is known by a variety of names including Devil's Night (particularly in Detroit), Gate Night, Goosey Night, Moving ...

''. In 2014 Raj performed a small role in the Indian drama serial '' Saraswatichandra''.

Television appearances

''Deal or No Deal''

In 2006, Raj appeared as a contestant on the television game show ''

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch '' Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this format is the final round (a ...

''. Taking part in the first season, Raj responded to an advert in the paper, and was selected from thousands of applicants to become one of the twenty-two contestants. Raj won £1 on the show after declining a final offer of £10,000 from the Banker.

''Big Ballet''

In 2014, Raj displayed his dancing abilities in the British documentary '' Big Ballet'' broadcast on Channel 4. Competing against almost 500 other aspiring ballet contestants, Raj ultimately won a place in the 18-member dance troupe. Raj was the only Asian member of the troupe and one of two males. The three-part documentary saw Raj train under dancer

Wayne Sleep Wayne Philip Colin Sleep (born 17 July 1948) is a British dancer, director, choreographer, and actor who appeared on the BBC series '' The Real Marigold on Tour'' and ITV's '' The Real Full Monty''. Early life Wayne Sleep was born in Plymou ...

and eventually play the role of the villain Baron von Rothbart in the ballet ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoje ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, links=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failu ...

''. The series aired in the US and in France.

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20140329122526/http://www.sunriseradio.fm/NewsContent.aspx?cn=2482&cnt=News *http://www.imdb.com/news/ni56795212/ *http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01rppk3 * *https://web.archive.org/web/20140414071105/http://www.sunriseradio.fm/TeamMember.aspx?profile=17 {{DEFAULTSORT:Parmar, Raj British male dancers Living people 1981 births British people of Indian descent 21st-century British male actors