Adeel Akhtar (born 18 September 1980) is a British screen and stage actor of Pakistani and Kenyan descent. He broke out on British television (Utopia, Capital) and became the first man of color to win best actor at the British Academy Television Awards (for his role in Murdered By My Father). Equally at home in comedic and dramatic roles, as well as both period pieces and works set in the modern day, Akhtar has since appeared in several films and television shows.
Filmography:
- Four Lions (2010): Faisal
- The Dictator (2012): Maroush
- Trollied (2013): Ray
- Utopia (2013-2014): Wilson Wilson
- War Book (2014): Mo
- Pan (2015): Smee
- River (2015): Detective Sergeant Ira King
- Capital (2015): Ahmed Kamal
- The Night Manager (2016): Rob Singhal
- Murdered By My Father (2016): Shahzad
- The Big Sick (2017): Naveed
- Victoria & Abdul (2017): Mohammed Bakhsh
- Unforgotten (2017): Hassan Mahmoud
- Apple Tree Yard (2017-2018): Jaspreet
- Swimming With Men (2018): Kurt
- Counterpart (2018): Casper
- Les Miserables (2018): Monsieur Thenardier
- Murder Mystery (2019): Maharajah Vikram Govindan
- Back to Life (2019): Billy
- The Nest (2020): Steve
- Enola Holmes (2020): Inspector Lestrade
- Enola Holmes 2 (2022)
- Ali And Ava (2021): Ali
- Everybodys Talking About Jamie (2021): Iman Masood
- The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021): Dan Rider
- Sweet Tooth (2021): Aditya Singh
- Sherwood (2022): Andy Fisher
- Save The Cinema (2022): Mayor Tom
- Fool Me Once (2024) as Detective Sami Kierce
Tropes across his career:
- Race Lift: He's Pakistani and Kenyan and has played Inspector Lestrade, Monsieur Thenardier, and Smee, classic 19th and 20th-century literature characters who were implicitly white.
