Shazad Latif (born Iqbal Amin; 8 July 1988) is a British actor, who starred as Tariq Masood 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 ...

TV series '' Spooks'', Clem H. Fandango on '' Toast of London'', and

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is an 1886 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series ...

in ''

Penny Dreadful Penny dreadfuls were cheap popular Serial (literature), serial literature produced during the 19th century in the United Kingdom. The pejorative term is roughly interchangeable with penny horrible, penny awful, and penny blood. The term typical ...

''. In 2017, he was cast as Chief of Security Ash Tyler in the

CBS All Access Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily ...

(now

Paramount+ Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, stream ...

) television series '' Star Trek: Discovery''. He also portrays

Captain Nemo Captain Nemo (; also known as Prince Dakkar) is a character created by the French novelist Jules Verne (1828–1905). Nemo appears in two of Verne's science-fiction books, ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (1870) and '' The Mysterious Is ...

in the live-action series ''

Nautilus A nautilus (; ) is any of the various species within the cephalopod family Nautilidae. This is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and the suborder Nautilina. It comprises nine living species in two genera, the type genus, ty ...

'' from 2024.

Early life

Born in London and originally named Iqbal Amin, Shazad Latif is of mixed

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 ...

, English and

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

descent. He grew up in

Tufnell Park Tufnell Park is an area in north London, England, in the London boroughs of London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Camden, Camden. The neighbourhood is served by Tufnell Park tube station on the Northern Line. History ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

. His father was Javed Iqbal, a Pakistani. Shazad studied at the

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (BOVTS) is a drama school in Bristol, England. The institution provides training in acting and production for careers in film, television and theatre. BOVTS was an affiliate of the Conservatoire for Dance a ...

and performed in many stage productions including ''

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

'', playing Cornwall, and Richard Sheridan's comedy ''

School for Scandal ''The School for Scandal'' is a comedy of manners written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on 8 May 1777. Plot Act I Scene I: Lady Sneerwell, a wealthy young widow, and her hireling S ...

'', as Joseph Surface. He left the school a year early to take up his role in ''Spooks''.

Career

'' Spooks'' was his first major role on television, as the highly skilled technician and data analyst Tariq Masood. He appeared in all series of '' Toast of London'' as the recurring character Clem Fandango, one of the studio staff recording the voice of lead character Steven Toast (

Matt Berry Matthew Charles Berry (born 2 May 1974) is an English actor, comedian, musician, and writer. Noted for his distinctive voice, he is best known for his television roles in comedy series such as ''The IT Crowd'', ''Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'', ' ...

). In 2016, he joined the cast of ''

'' as the literary character Dr. Jekyll. In 2017, Latif was cast in the role of Lieutenant Ash Tyler in '' Star Trek: Discovery''. After initially being announced as playing a human, it was later revealed that Latif had also portrayed the Klingon Voq in the series, credited under his late father's name to conceal a related

plot twist A plot twist is a literary technique that introduces a radical change in the direction or expected outcome of the plot in a work of fiction. When it happens near the end of a story, it is known as a twist ending or surprise ending. It may change ...

. Shazad Latif played ISIS fighter Bilel in the 2018 thriller film '' Profile'' by

Timur Bekmambetov Timur Nuruakhitovich Bekmambetov (, ; ; born 25 June 1961) is a Kazakh-born Russian film director, producer, screenwriter, and tech entrepreneur. He is best known for the fantasy epic '' Night Watch'' (2004) and the action thriller '' Wanted' ...

. The film takes place entirely on computer screens. It premiered at the

68th Berlin International Film Festival The 68th annual Berlin International Film Festival took place from 15 to 25 February 2018. German filmmaker Tom Tykwer served as Jury President. American film director Wes Anderson's animated film ''Isle of Dogs (film), Isle of Dogs'' opened th ...

where it won the Panorama Audience Award. Latif played

in the live-action series ''

'', released on Amazon Prime Video in 2024.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Latif, Shazad Living people 1988 births Alumni of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School English male television actors English people of Pakistani descent English people of Scottish descent Male actors from London People from Tufnell Park Actors from the London Borough of Camden Actors from the London Borough of Islington British actors of Pakistani descent