Amit Kaushik Shah (born 1981) is a British actor.

Early life

Amit Shah was born in

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

, England. Shah's parents were originally from Kenya, and his grandparents from

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, India. His father is an accountant, and his mother is a health-food shop manager. Shah was cast as the lead in a school play at the age of 16. He read drama at

Staffordshire University , mottoeng = Dare to know , type = Public , endowment = £70 million (2015) , administrative_staff = 1,375 , chancellor = Francis Fitzherbert, 15th Baron Stafford , vice_chancellor = Professor Martin Jones , ...

and then went on to train at the

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. It is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. LAMDA's Principal is ...

in West London. In 2003 he was given permission by the principal to graduate early so that he could begin rehearsals for ''

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 two ...

'', a West-End musical produced by

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 musicals, ...

Acting career

In 2006, Shah was offered a part in ''The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' at the National Theatre; the same part that

Derek Jacobi Sir Derek George Jacobi (; born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. He has appeared in various stage productions of William Shakespeare such as ''Hamlet'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''Macbeth'', ''Twelfth Night'', ''The Tempest'', ''King ...

played in the original production in 1964. He stayed on at the National Theatre to perform three plays, including ''

The Alchemist An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy. Alchemist or Alchemyst may also refer to: Books and stories * ''The Alchemist'' (novel), the translated title of a 1988 allegorical novel by Paulo Coelho * ''The Alchemist'' (play), a play by Be ...

'' directed by

Nicholas Hytner Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner (; born 7 May 1956) is an English theatre director, film director, and film producer. He was previously the Artistic Director of London's National Theatre. His major successes as director include ''Miss Saigon'', ''Th ...

, for which he was nominated for an

Ian Charleson Award The Ian Charleson Awards are theatrical awards that reward the best classical stage performances in Britain by actors under age 30. The awards are named in memory of the renowned British actor Ian Charleson, and are run by the '' Sunday Times'' n ...

. He also portrayed a principal role in ''

The Man of Mode ''The Man of Mode, or, Sir Fopling Flutter'' is a Restoration comedy by George Etherege, written in 1676. The play is set in Restoration London and follows the womanizer Dorimant as he tries to win over the young heiress Harriet and to diseng ...

'', alongside Tom Hardy,

Rory Kinnear Rory Michael Kinnear (born 17 February 1978) is an English actor and playwright who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. In 2014, he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of William S ...

and

Hayley Atwell Hayley Elizabeth Atwell (born 5 April 1982) is a British and American actress. Born and raised in London, Atwell studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and made her stage debut in a 2005 production of James Kerr's translation ...

. Shah has starred in a variety of television shows since 2006. His most notable roles include Sunny in

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

's ''

Hospital People ''Hospital People'' is a BBC One Mockumentary series set in the fictional Brimlington Hospital in the fictional town of Brimlington. The main star of the programme is Tom Binns who plays four different characters in the series. He has a support ...

'', Fred in

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 ...

's '' Crashing'', and Torque in ''

The Witcher ''The Witcher'' ( pl, Wiedźmin ) is a series of six fantasy novels and 15 short stories written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. The series revolves around the eponymous "witcher", Geralt of Rivia. In Sapkowski's works, "witchers" are bea ...

'' for

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. Shah's first major part in a feature film was in 2014 for ''

The Hundred-Foot Journey ''The Hundred-Foot Journey'' is a novel written by Richard C. Morais and published in 2008. It was adapted into a feature film of the same name in 2014. Plot It is a story about how the hundred-foot distance between a new Indian restaurant a ...

'' in which he starred alongside

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; born 26 July 1945) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only performer to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdom. ...

and

Om Puri Om Prakash Puri (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada,English, Punjabi and one Telugu film, as well as independent and art films and also starred ...

. He has since been cast in ''

Johnny English Strikes Again ''Johnny English Strikes Again'' is a 2018 action spy comedy film directed by David Kerr. It is the sequel to ''Johnny English Reborn'' (2011) and is the third and final installment of the ''Johnny English'' series. The film stars Rowan Atkins ...

'', '' Ordinary Love'', and ''

Last Christmas "Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham!, originally released in December 1984 on CBS Records internationally and as a double A-side on Epic Records with "Everything She Wants" in the UK. Described as a "high watermark of mid-80s Br ...

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

References

Amit Shah interview on easterneye.biz

Amit Shah interview re his character Jeremy in ''The Rebel''.

Amit Shah's Troika page

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Amit 1981 births Living people 21st-century British male actors Alumni of Staffordshire University Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art British male actors of Indian descent British male film actors British male stage actors British male television actors English people of Kenyan descent Male actors from London People from the London Borough of Enfield