Raj Parmar (born 1 November 1981) is a British-Indian Bollywood dancer, choreographer, and television and radio personality. Best known for his work with

Sunrise Radio Sunrise Radio is a 24-hour commercial radio station, focusing on entertainment, music and news from the Indian subcontinent. It broadcasts to the Greater London area on 963/972 AM, on DAB (SDL National), and via the internet. History Sunrise ...

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 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 reality series ''

Big Ballet ''Big Ballet'' is a 2014 British documentary program that follows Wayne Sleep and prima ballerina Monica Loughman as they help a troupe of amateur plus-size dancers realize their dream of dancing Swan Lake. The three-episode series, produced ...

''.

Early life and presenting work

Parmar grew up in

Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, 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 12 metropolitan centres in Gr ...

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: North London ...

before moving to

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

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, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

and

Lollywood Lollywood ( ur, , translit=lâli vuḍ) refers to Pakistan's film industry based in Lahore, previously the base for both Punjabi and Urdu language film production. Lahore has been the center of Pakistani cinema since the partition of ...

industries, including

Akshay Kumar Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia (born 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian-born naturalised Canadian Quote: "(Former prime minister Stephen) Harper campaigned in 2011 alongside one of Modi's biggest celebrity backer ...

Aishwarya Rai Aishwarya Rai Bachchan ( Rai; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress who is primarily known for her work in Hindi and Tamil films. The winner of the Miss World 1994 pageant, she has established herself as one of the most popular celebritie ...

Abhishek Bachchan Abhishek Bachchan (born 5 February 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer known for his work in Hindi films. Part of the Bachchan family, he is the son of actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan and the grandson of poet Harivansh Rai Bach ...

Vivek Oberoi Vivek Anand Oberoi (born 3 September 1976) is an Indian actor who mainly works in Hindi cinema, in addition to working in few Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil films. Early life Vivek Oberoi was born in Hyderabad, Telangana, to a Punjab ...

, Rajeshwari Sachdev,

Juhi Chawla Juhi Chawla (born 13 November 1967) is an Indian actress, film producer and entrepreneur. She established herself as one of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema from the late 1980s through the early 2000s. Recognised for her comic timing and v ...

Kajal Kohl ( ar, كُحْل, kuḥl), kajal or kajol is an ancient eye cosmetic, traditionally made by grinding stibnite (Sb2S3) for use similar to that of charcoal in mascara. It is widely used in the Middle East, Caucasus and North Africa, South As ...

Saif Ali Khan Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Khan ma ...

Karisma Kapoor Karisma Kapoor (born 25 June 1974) is an Indian actress, who works in Hindi films. A member of the Kapoor family, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a National Film Award and four Filmfare Awards. Kapoor made her acting de ...

and

Bipasha Basu Bipasha Basu Singh Grover (born 7 January 1979) is an Indian actress and former model. Primarily known for her work in Hindi films, she has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and English films. Basu is the recipient of numerous accolade ...

. 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 (both young and old) engage in jokes, pranks, vandalism and/or parties. It is known by a variety of names including Devil's Night, Gate Night, Goosey Night, Moving Nig ...

''. 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 (Netherlands), Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this f ...

''. 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 ''

'' 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 Sleep was born in Plymouth, D ...

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

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

''. 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 British male actors of Asian descent