Four Lions

Riz Ahmed (Actor) .. Omar

Born: December 01, 1982 in Wembley, London

Best Known For: Playing Bodhi Rook in Rogue One.

Early-life: Rizwan Ahmed was born on December 1, 1982 in Wembley, London. He studied at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood through a scholarship programme. Riz graduated from Christ Church, Oxford University with a Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree and later studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Career: Ahmed started his film career playing the role of Shafiq Rasul in the film The Road to Guantanamo (2006). Following this, he appeared in a number of independent films, including Shifty (2008), Four Lions (2010) and Ill Manors (2012). His breakthrough role was in the film Nightcrawler (2014). Since then, he has appeared in Jason Bourne (2016), Rogue One (2016) and TV miniseries The Night Of. He also has a number of stage credits, including a role in the Asian Dub Foundation's opera Gaddafi. As well as acting, Ahmed has a music career both as a solo rap artist and a member of the hip-hop duo Swet Shop Boys.

Quote: 'I never thought acting would be a realistic job for me. Because, quite frankly, I didn't see people who looked like me doing it. I quickly realised that's all the more reason to try.'

Trivia: He was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for his role in The Night Of.

Kayvan Novak (Actor) .. Waj

Born: November 23, 1978 in London

Best Known For: His mad-hatter characters of Fonejacker and Facejacker.

Early-life: Born in Cricklewood, London, British-Iranian Novak was then privately educated at Highgate School.

Career: Novak provided voiceovers for video games including Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, but it was the Bafta award-winning Fonejacker that he co-created with Ed Tracy which would go on to earn him big-time success. A while later, spin-off Facejacker followed, after Novak made appearances in Holby City, Spooks and the George Clooney movie Syriana. He impressed the critics in Chris Morris's comedy Four Lions, a project which also attracted Bafta gold.

Quote: On his Facejacker make-up: 'It's quite time consuming. Each character takes about three hours. But it's worth it, because the transformation is awesome.'

Trivia: He supports Liverpool FC.

Nigel Lindsay (Actor) .. Barry

Born: January 17, 1969 in St John's Wood, London

Best Known For: Playing Barry in Four Lions.

Early-life: Born on January 17, 1969 in St John's Wood, London. Nigel went to Merchant Taylors' School before going on to study English and French at the University of Birmingham. He then worked for three years as a financial analyst. After performing in a friend's charity production, he caught the acting bug and quit finance to take a two-year course at the Webber Douglas Academy. Nigel's first professional acting job was with the Lincolnshire touring company Great Eastern Stage.

Career: Lindsay's early career was mainly focussed on theatre but he later broke into TV and film. He has appeared in a number of regular series, such as Spooks, Silent Witness, Waking the Dead, Midsomer Murders, New Tricks and Between the Lines. Lindsay has also appeared on such comedy programmes as Alan Partridge, The Armando Iannucci Shows, Jam & Jerusalem and Brass Eye. His film credits include Rogue Trader (1999), Four Lions (2010) and Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa (2013). Meanwhile, he has continued to amass theatre roles, including playing the title role in the West End run of Shrek the Musical. More recently, he has appeared in the TV series Victoria, Unforgotten and White Gold.

Quote: 'When you play any character you have to sort of like them.'

Trivia: He was nominated for Best British Comedy Performance in Film at the 2011 British Comedy Awards for his performance in Four Lions.

Adeel Akhtar (Actor) .. Fessal

Born: September 18, 1980 in London

Best Known For: Four Lions and Utopia.

Early-life: Adeel was born in London on September 18, 1980. He obtained a law degree but decided that he wanted to pursue a career in acting instead. He trained at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York. In 2006, he made his TV debut in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. His first break came in 2010 when he had a leading role in Chris Morris's comedy film Four Lions (2010).

Career: Akhtar went on to star in the sketch show The Angelos Epithemiou Show and alongside Sacha Baron Cohen in The Dictator (2012). His other TV credits include The Job Lot, Trollied, Utopia and River. On the big screen, he has also appeared in War Book (2014) and Pan (2015).

Quote: 'I went to drama school, came out the other end, was out of work for a bit, then found some work.'

Trivia: In 2015, Akhtar received a Bafta nomination for his role in Utopia.

Arsher Ali (Actor) .. Hassan

Preeya Kalidas (Actor) .. Sophia

Benedict Cumberbatch (Actor) .. Ed

Born: July 19, 1976 in London

Best Known For: Playing the modern-day Sherlock.

Early-life: Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch was born on July 19, 1976, in London. His parents are actors Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham. He was educated at the public schools Brambletye and Harrow (his grandmother paid his fees); he first started acting at the latter. After spending a year teaching English in a Tibetan monastary, Benedict studied drama at Manchester University, and later continued his studies at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Career: Cumberbatch has divided his professional time between stage, film and TV. He's performed in various London venues, including the Royal Court and National Theatre, and in 2011 he shared the Olivier Award for Best Actor with his Frankenstein co-star Jonny Lee Miller. His first film was 2003's To Kill a King; projects since include Starter for 10, Amazing Grace, The Other Boleyn Girl, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and War Horse. His biggest successes, however, have come on TV in Hawking, The Last Enemy, Parade's End and, of course, Sherlock. He's also worked on The Hobbit movies and Star Trek Into Darkness.

Quote: 'Cumberbatch - it sounds like a fart in a bath, doesn't it? What a fluffy old name. I can never say it on a Monday morning. When I became an actor, Mum wasn't keen on me keeping it.'

Trivia: In 2014, Time magazine included him in their list of the most influential people in the world.

Julia Davis (Actor) .. Alice

Best Known For: Nighty Night.

Early-life: Born and raised in Bath, she was a natural performer and story teller. English and drama were her favourite subjects, so it came as no surprise she opted to study these at college. Unfortunately, she was forced to return home from her course in York after developing glandular fever. Ill for more than two years, she became introspective, but believes the experience has made her the person she is today.

Career: While working at a local supermarket, she joined a theatre group in Bath and formed a double act with friend Jane Roth. Later, they joined forces with Rob Brydon and Ruth Jones in an improvisation troupe, before securing a role in a Radio 4 comedy with Arabella Weir. Introduced to Father Ted creators Arthur Matthews and Graham Linehan, she was cast in the sketch show Big Train, closely followed by Jam, Human Remains and Marion and Geoff. After three years of writing, her dark comedy Nighty Night hit our screens in 2004. She has since appeared in Love Actually, Nathan Barley, Confetti, and Four Lions.

Quote: 'If I claim I'm the opposite of my characters it'll sound awful, but I tend to write the sort of things I'd never say.'

Trivia: In the last edition of The Office, she voiced the woman from a dating agency in conversation with David Brent.

Chris Morris (Director)

12:05 am - 02:10 am, Friday, April 10 on Film4 +1 (47)

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