Himesh Patel
Patel at the 2024Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Himesh Jitendra Patel (1990-10-13)13 October 1990 (age 35) Sawtry,Cambridgeshire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2007–present
Children	1

Himesh Jitendra Patel (born 13 October 1990) is a British Indian actor. He began his career portrayingTamwar Masood in theBBCsoap operaEastEnders (2007–2016).

On television, this was followed by roles in theChannel 4 sitcomDamned (2016–2018) and theHBO miniseriesStation Eleven (2021), earning a nomination for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for the latter.

Patel has starred in the filmsYesterday (2019),Tenet (2020),Don't Look Up (2021) andGreedy People (2024).

Patel was born on 13 October 1990 inSawtry,Cambridgeshire.^[1] His parents are both IndianGujaratiHindus. His mother was born inZambia and his father was born inKenya.^[2] He grew up speakingGujarati.^[3]

Patel attendedPrince William School inOundle,Northamptonshire.^[4] As a child, he began impersonating his favourite characters on television and film. When he was 11, he was cast in a school play,This Is Your Life, Santa Claus, as Michael Aspel.^[5] Upon the suggestion by a teacher, his parents then signed him up for a local theatre group, the Key Youth Theatre inPeterborough.^[6] Later, he became a member of The Young Actors' Company inCambridge, where he also took film classes.^[7] He took piano lessons and bought himself an electric guitar and taught himself to play at the age of 13.^[3]

His parents ran a newsagent's shop inCambridgeshire. Patel did apaper round until he was 21.^[8]

When he was 16, Patel received a call on the day of hisGeneral Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exams that notified he had landed an audition for the British soap operaEastEnders through an agency in The Young Actors' Company. He finished his last exam and had his parents rush him to his audition. After his first audition a casting assistant saw him waiting outside the audition room and asked him to read for the casting director. Patel won the part ofTamwar Masood, and 1 October 2007 marked his first appearance onEastEnders. In 2011 Patel andMeryl Fernandes won theInside Soap Award for Best Wedding.

Patel has also appeared inEastEnders: E20 as Tamwar. In 2011 he co-wrote episode one of series three with co-starCharlie G. Hawkins.^[9] In 2013 he filmed an internet spin-off ofEastEnders calledTamwar Tales – The Life of an Assistant Market Inspector. Four episodes were aired weekly, starting on 25 July 2013.^[10] All four episodes and one behind-the-scenes clip are available on theEastEnders official website.^[11]

He played Tamwar for nine years until he left the show in 2016 to explore other opportunities. His last appearance was on 22 April 2016.^[12]

He has appeared in a number of short films. In 2014, he was cast as Pavan in the short filmTwo Dosas; the film won several awards, including Best Short Comedy at the London Short Film Festival and Best Comedy at the Aspen Film Festival.^[13][14] At the Shuffle festival, it won a third award, judged byDanny Boyle, who would later direct Patel inYesterday (2019).^[15][16]

Patel portrayed The Suit inThe Fox (2017), another comedy short by Henry Scriven.^[17]

He is working on a short film titledIs This Life? (2019).^[18]

In 2021, he acted in the short filmEnjoy.^[19]

On 27 September 2016 he made his first appearance on TV since leavingEastEnders in the first episode of the Channel 4 sitcomDamned. He played ex-constable and social worker Nitin for 12 episodes in two six-episode series.^[20] He appeared inRapscallions (2016), a short film by Henry Scriven.^[21]

In 2017 he was cast inDon Juan in Soho as "Vagabond" withDavid Tennant playing the titular character.^[22] Patel played Amit in an episode of the BBC comedyClimaxed in the same year.^[23] He made a short appearance as Mr. Glencuddy in the second episode of the comedyMotherland. He is credited as a producer for the 2017 feature filmMy Pure Land.^[24]

Patel has been credited as a voice actor in twoDoctor Who audio stories. He voiced Biotech Dendry inDay of the Vashta Nerada as well as Engineer and Ayrton Valencia inThe Lifeboat and the Deathboat.^[25][26]

In 2019, he made his film debut with his breakthrough role as Jack Malik inDanny Boyle'sYesterday (2019). He sings live throughout the film, covering various songs byThe Beatles.^[27]

He appeared inThe Aeronauts (2019) alongsideFelicity Jones andEddie Redmayne.^[28]

Patel was cast as Emery Staines inThe Luminaries, a mini-series based on the 2013 book byEleanor Catton.^[29] The plot of the TV series differs from the book.^[30] Patel appears on the 2019Children in Need album. He sangthe Killers' song, "All These Things That I've Done". According to an interview, Patel is working on his first original TV script with What Larks Productions.^[20]

In 2019, Patel joined the cast ofHBO Max limited seriesStation Eleven.^[31] In 2020, Patel appeared as Jordan Hatwal in the comedy seriesAvenue 5, starringHugh Laurie.

In 2020, Patel appeared in the filmTenet as Mahir, a fixer who initially helps Neil and the protagonist in their plot to steal the painting from the Oslo airport.^[32] Patel appears in the 2021Netflix filmDon't Look Up, portraying Phillip Kaj, the unscrupulous journalist dating the astronomer,Jennifer Lawrence's Kate Dibiasky, who is responsible for detecting the movie'scomet.^[33] For his performance and along with the ensemble he received theScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture nomination.^[34]

In 2022, Patel made an end credits cameo inEnola Holmes 2 asDr. John Watson,^[35] a role he will reprise in a larger capacity forEnola Holmes 3. In 2023, he appeared in theNetflix filmGood Grief.^[36] In 2024, Patel starred alongsideElizabeth Olsen andAlicia Vikander inThe Assessment,^[37] and led theHBO satireThe Franchise, which was cancelled after one season.^[38]

He reunited withChristopher Nolan in the fantasy epicThe Odyssey.^[39]

Patel is a supporter ofTottenham Hotspur F.C.^[40] He became a father to a girl in December 2020.^[41]

• Himesh Patel atIMDb 

• 1990 births
• Living people
• 21st-century English male actors
• Actors from Huntingdonshire (district)
• English male film actors
• English male soap opera actors
• English people of Indian descent
• English people of Gujarati descent
• English people of Kenyan descent
• English people of Zambian descent
• English rock singers
• Male actors from Cambridgeshire
• National Youth Theatre members

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