Omid Djalili | WatchedThis

Omid Djalili

Omid Djalili

Acting

Biography

Omid Djalili is a British stand-up comedian, actor, television producer and writer. Djalili was born on 30 September 1965 in St Mary Abbots Hospital in Kensington, London, to Iranian Baháʼí parents Ahmad and Parvaneh Djalili. His parents emigrated from Tehran to London in 1958. He has a brother and sister. His mother was a dressmaker who at one point assisted Iranian singer Googoosh. His father was a liaison officer at the Iranian embassy in which he would provide medical assistance. He was also a photographer whose pictures ended up in the newspaper Kayhan. He attended Holland Park School where he failed A-level exams a record six times and faked his results to gain entry to Ulster University in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, studying English and theatre studies having been turned down by 16 drama schools. Djalili cited Jack Lemmon, Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Julia Roberts as influences. The first significant success of his stand-up comedy career was at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1995 with "Short, Fat Kebab Shop Owner's Son", followed by "The Arab and the Jew" with Jewish comedian Ivor Dembina in 1996. Djalili has appeared in a number of films, most notably Gladiator, The Mummy, Mean Machine, The World Is Not Enough, Alien Autopsy, Spy Game, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Grow Your Own, Notting Hill, Mr Nice, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Sex and the City 2 and provides his voice in Over the Hedge. He has observed that he usually appears as a generic Middle Eastern background character in many of these films, often commenting that he appears in the James Bond film as the "Second Azerbaijani oil pipe attendant". He appeared as Nasim in 22 episodes of the U.S. sitcom Whoopi, starring Whoopi Goldberg, and picked up an international film award for Best Supporting Actor in Casanova, starring alongside Heath Ledger and Jeremy Irons. Djalili has won awards for his comedy. These include the EMMA Award, Time Out Award, and LWT Comedy Award for Best Stand-up Comedian, Spirit of the Fringe Award as well as the One World Media Award for his Channel 4 documentary, Bloody Foreigners. He has also been nominated for awards, such as the Perrier Award for Best Comedian, the Gemini Award for Best Comedy Performance of 2003, the South Bank Award for Best Comedy of 2003, the Royal Television Society Award for Best Stand-up, and the European TV Award for his Bloody Foreigners.

Filmography Movies

Acting

Poster for The Mummy
MOVIE

The Mummy

7.0(10.0K)
The Mummy
Gad Hassan
Poster for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
MOVIE

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

5.9(1.4K)
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Kaji
Poster for The Calcium Kid
MOVIE

The Calcium Kid

5.5(0.1K)
The Calcium Kid
Herbie Bush
Poster for Over the Hedge
MOVIE

Over the Hedge

6.6(4.8K)
Over the Hedge
Tiger (voice)
The Secret Policeman's Ball: The Ball in the HallMOVIE
MOVIE

The Secret Policeman's Ball: The Ball in the Hall

5.3(0.0K)
The Secret Policeman's Ball: The Ball in the Hall
Self
Poster for The Love Guru
MOVIE

The Love Guru

4.1(0.8K)
The Love Guru
Guru Satchabigknoba
Poster for Alien Autopsy
MOVIE

Alien Autopsy

5.7(0.1K)
Alien Autopsy
Melik
Poster for Casanova
MOVIE

Casanova

6.4(0.9K)
Casanova
Lupo
Poster for Modigliani
MOVIE

Modigliani

7.0(0.2K)
Modigliani
Pablo Picasso
Poster for The Infidel
MOVIE

The Infidel

6.2(0.1K)
The Infidel
Mahmud Nasir

Production

Poster for The Infidel
MOVIE

The Infidel

6.2(0.1K)
The Infidel
Executive Producer
Poster for Omid Djalili: Live in London
MOVIE

Omid Djalili: Live in London

5.7(0.0K)
Omid Djalili: Live in London
Writer
Poster for Omid Djalili: Live in London
MOVIE

Omid Djalili: Live in London

5.7(0.0K)
Omid Djalili: Live in London
Executive Producer
Poster for Omid Djalili: Tour of Duty
MOVIE

Omid Djalili: Tour of Duty

6.1(0.0K)
Omid Djalili: Tour of Duty
Writer
Poster for Omid Djalili: Tour of Duty
MOVIE

Omid Djalili: Tour of Duty

6.1(0.0K)
Omid Djalili: Tour of Duty
Executive Producer
Poster for We Are Many
MOVIE

We Are Many

6.7(0.0K)
We Are Many
Executive Producer

Gallery

Omid Djalili portrait
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