Adeel Akhtar is a British actor. He is known for his role in '' Murdered by My Father'', for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in 2017. He is also known for ''

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

'', '' Ali & Ava'', '' Showtrial'', and '' Sherwood'' (2022), for which he received the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor. He won the Outstanding Supporting Performance at the

Children's and Family Emmy Awards The Children's and Family Emmy Awards, or Children's and Family Emmys, are a part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts a ...

for his role in '' Sweet Tooth'' in 2023.

Early life and education

Adeel Akhtar was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, to a

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 ...

father and a Indo-Kenyan mother. He was educated at Cheltenham College Junior School from 1991 to 1994 and then moved to Cheltenham College in Newick House from 1994 to 1999. He completed a degree in law from Oxford Brookes University in 2002 but decided to follow his passion and change to acting, training at the Actors Studio Drama School, then within The New School, in New York.

Career

Akhtar's first major role was as the bumbling Muslim extremist Faisal in Chris Morris's film '' Four Lions''. Other comedic performances include Gupta in ''The Angelos Epithemiou Show'', Maroush in '' The Dictator'' and Smee in Joe Wright 's'' Pan''. Akhtar has also won acclaim for his dramatic performances: in 2015, he was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor for his 2014 role as Wilson Wilson on

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 ''

''. He played shopkeeper Ahmed alongside Toby Jones in the BBC mini-series '' Capital'', and DS Ira King in the BBC's ''

River A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

''. Reviewing ''River'' in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', Michael Hogan wrote, "This series was beautifully written by Abi Morgan, stylishly directed, and most of all, superbly acted. The quieter, less showy supporting players also shone. Not just stalwarts ..but fresher faces: Adeel Akhtar as River's endlessly patient sidekick and Georgina Rich as his psychiatrist". In 2016, Akhtar appeared as Shahzad in the BBC one-off drama '' Murdered by My Father''. He won the 2017 BAFTA award for Lead Actor for this role, the first non-white actor to do so. In 2017 he also took part in the American romantic comedy film '' The Big Sick'', playing the role of the protagonist's brother, Naveed. He appeared as Rob Singhal in the acclaimed BBC miniseries based on John le Carré's '' The Night Manager''. In 2019, Akhtar appeared as Billy in the BBC Three series, '' Back to Life'', written by Daisy Haggard and Laura Solon, returning in 2021 for the second series. In 2024, Akhtar appeared as Sam Malik in the second series of BBC drama '' Showtrial''.https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0023h9j/showtrial-series-2-1-officer-x?seriesId=p09twdp8-structural-2-m0023h9h

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

*2008: ''Zero'' as The Colonel (Theatre Absolute) *2008: ''In My Name'' as Zaeem ( Old Red Lion & Trafalgar Studios) *2009: '' Wuthering Heights'' as Yusuf ( Tamasha Theatre Company) *2010: '' Satyagraha'' (Ensemble) ( Improbable theatre) *2011–2012: '' Hamlet'' as Guildenstern and Francisco ( Young Vic Theatre) *2024: ''

The Cherry Orchard ''The Cherry Orchard'' () is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by '' Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate edition later that year in Saint Petersburg, via A.F. Marks Pu ...

'' as Lopakhin ( Donmar Warehouse) *2025: ''

'' as Lopakhin ( St. Ann's Warehouse)

Accolades

References

External links

*
Adeel Akhtar
on Stages of Half Moon {{DEFAULTSORT:Akhtar, Adeel 1980 births 21st-century English male actors Actors Studio alumni Best Actor BAFTA Award (television) winners Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award (television) winners British actors of Pakistani descent Children's and Family Emmy Award winners English male film actors English male stage actors English male television actors English male voice actors English people of Kenyan descent English people of Pakistani descent Living people Male actors from London People educated at Cheltenham College