Omid Djalili
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1965-09-30
Place of Birth
Chelsea, London, England, UK
Omid Djalili
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.
Also Known For
The Mummy
Apr 16, 1999
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sep 17, 2004
The Calcium Kid
Apr 30, 2004
Over the Hedge
May 17, 2006
The Secret Policeman's Ball: The Ball in the Hall
Oct 31, 2006
The Love Guru
Jun 20, 2008
Alien Autopsy
Apr 07, 2006
Casanova
Dec 25, 2005
Modigliani
May 18, 2004
The Infidel
Feb 18, 2010
Omid Djalili: No Agenda
Nov 27, 2007
Omid Djalili: Live in London
Nov 16, 2009
Mr. Nice
Oct 07, 2010
Grow Your Own
Jun 15, 2007
Big Fat Gypsy Gangster
Sep 14, 2011
Dinotopia 3: The Election
Dec 19, 2002
Dinotopia 2: The Temptation
Dec 05, 2002
Dinotopia 4: New Horizons
Jul 03, 2003
Dinotopia 5: The Virus
Jul 24, 2003
Dinotopia 6: The Exit
Aug 07, 2003
Omid Djalili: Tour of Duty
Nov 19, 2012
Just Like Us
Jun 10, 2011
Love Again
May 04, 2023
Journey to Bethlehem
Nov 09, 2023
Christmas Comedy Club with Lost Voice Guy
Dec 24, 2021
The World Is Not Enough
Nov 17, 1999
Shaun the Sheep Movie
Feb 05, 2015
One-Night Stand: Omid Djalili
Sep 30, 2005
Gladiator
May 04, 2000
Comic Aid
Mar 02, 2005
Deep Cover
Jun 12, 2025
We Are Most Amused
Nov 15, 2008
Sex and the City 2
May 26, 2010
My Family and Other Animals
Dec 27, 2005
Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism
Apr 11, 2015
A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman
Dec 26, 2015
Dying Laughing
Feb 24, 2017
Retrospective
Jul 14, 2014
Les Dawson Lost Tapes
Jul 21, 2021
Deadlines
Jun 08, 2005
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
Oct 26, 2018
Chopratown
Dec 19, 2005
The Egyptian Job
Sep 14, 2011
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
Jul 18, 2018
Spy Game
Nov 18, 2001
Notting Hill
May 21, 1999
Mad Cows
Oct 29, 1999
Mean Machine
Dec 26, 2001
Anita and Me
Nov 22, 2002
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
May 19, 2007
Dead Man Running
Jan 29, 2009
We Are Most Amused and Amazed
Nov 13, 2018
The Comedian's Guide to Survival
Oct 28, 2016
New Town
Apr 14, 2009
The Way Out
Apr 11, 2020
Performance Live: The Way Out
World's Greatest Stand Up: Volume One
May 08, 2006
Cinema Iran
May 04, 2005
Tomorrow Morning
Sep 09, 2022
Cold War Steve Meets the Outside World
Nov 24, 2020
In Your Dreams
Nov 13, 2025
Top Gear
Oct 20, 2002
TV Heaven, Telly Hell
Mar 26, 2006
Live at the Apollo
Sep 06, 2004
Whoopi
Sep 09, 2003
The One Show
Aug 14, 2006
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Nov 02, 2001
Room 101
Jul 04, 1994
Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive
Jul 11, 2006
Lock, Stock...
May 29, 2000
Relic Hunter
Sep 25, 1999
Would I Lie to You?
Jun 16, 2007
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Sep 13, 1993
Headcases
Apr 06, 2008
The Omid Djalili Show
Nov 17, 2007
One Night Stand
Feb 15, 1989
Comedy World Cup
Sep 15, 2012
Michael McIntyre's The Wheel
Nov 28, 2020
GMTV
Jan 01, 1993
Coming Soon
Jun 17, 1999
Britney
Nov 30, 2021
The Paul Reiser Show
Apr 14, 2011
The Michael Ball Show
Aug 16, 2010
Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round
May 08, 1998
Winning Combination
Nov 16, 2020
The Change
Jun 21, 2023
Dickensian
Dec 26, 2015
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries
Aug 02, 1987
The One Show
Aug 14, 2006
Going Forward
May 19, 2016
Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
Jun 16, 2014
Kate Garraway's Life Stories
Feb 22, 2009
All the Queen's Horses with Alan Titchmarsh
Jul 19, 2009
Midsomer Murders
Mar 23, 1997
Jason and the Argonauts
May 07, 2000
Beat the Chasers
Apr 27, 2020
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
Nov 12, 1996
Insert Name Here
Jan 04, 2016
The Great Sport Relief Bake Off
Jan 10, 2012
Let's Dance for Sport Relief
Feb 20, 2010
Question Time
Sep 25, 1979
The Graham Norton Show
Feb 22, 2007
Have I Got a Bit More News for You
His Dark Materials
Nov 03, 2019
Dinotopia
Nov 28, 2002
Celebrity Mastermind
Dec 26, 2003
Black Books
Sep 29, 2000
Have I Got News for You
Sep 28, 1990
