Adeel Akhtar
Acting
1980-09-18 · London, England, UK
Akhtar is known for 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 and 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's Utopia. He played shopkeeper Ahmed alongside Toby Jones in the BBC mini-series Capital, and DS Ira King in the BBC's River. Reviewing River in The Daily Telegraph, 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. He also appeared as Rob Singhal in the acclaimed BBC miniseries based on John le Carré's The Night Manager. Adeel became a patron of Half Moon Theatre in autumn 2016.
Filmography
TheatersElsinore
2026 · Movie
Letters to My Younger Future Self
2026 · Movie
National Theatre Live: The Estate
2025 · Movie
Down Cemetery Road
2025 · Series
Black Doves
2024 · Series
Fool Me Once
2024 · Series
Dickens: Phantoms and Fiction
2023 · Movie
The Walk
2023 · Movie
The Puppet Asylum
2023 · Movie
Murder Mystery 2
2023 · Movie
Enola Holmes 2
2022 · Movie
Sherwood
2022 · Series
Ali & Ava
2022 · Movie
Save the Cinema
2022 · Movie
Showtrial
2021 · Series
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain
2021 · Movie
Robin Robin
2021 · Movie
Everybody's Talking About Jamie
2021 · Movie
Sweet Tooth
2021 · Series
Enola Holmes
2020 · Movie
The Nest
2020 · Movie
Raagni - The Movie
2019 · Movie
The Show
2019 · Movie
Murder Mystery
2019 · Movie
Back to Life
2019 · Series
Les Misérables
2018 · Series
Swimming with Men
2018 · Movie
Killing Eve
2018 · Series
Counterpart
2017 · Series
Ghosted
2017 · Series
Victoria & Abdul
2017 · Movie
Hampstead
2017 · Movie
The Big Sick
2017 · Movie
The Last Dragonslayer
2016 · Movie
The Circuit
2016 · Movie
Flowers
2016 · Series
Murdered by My Father
2016 · Movie
The Night Manager
2016 · Series
Capital
2015 · Series
River
2015 · Series
Convenience
2015 · Movie
Pan
2015 · Movie
War Book
2015 · Movie
Keeping Up with the Joneses
2013 · Movie
Jadoo
2013 · Movie
The Job Lot
2013 · Series
Stranger Things
2013 · Movie
Utopia
2013 · Series
Utopia
2013 · Movie
Utopia
2013 · Series
The Angelos Epithemiou Show
2012 · Series
The Dictator
2012 · Movie
Four Lions
2010 · Movie
Traitor
2008 · Movie
Conviction
2006 · Series
Who Do You Think You Are?
2004 · Series
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
2001 · Series