An Iranian in Hollywood
Saturday 1st March 2008, 6:00AM GMT.
“Most people associate the Middle East with oil, and phlegm and halitosis,” observes Omid Djalili. “I’m joking – we’re running out of oil.”
The British-Iranian born actor and comedian has become the talk of the circuit since he burst onto our screens last year in BBC One’s The Omid Djalili Show.
But Djalili has been tickling UK and US crowds for years with idiosyncratic social commentary and political satire, even breaking Hollywood in the process and appearing in several blockbusters including Gladiator, The Mummy and Pirates of the Caribbean III.
After proving a bit hit at the Edinburgh Festivals in the early 90s, Omid toured with his sell-out show Short Fat Kebab Shop Owner’s Son and went on to complete two seasons of the Channel 4 series Small Potatoes before co-starring in Whoopi Goldberg’s sitcom Whoopie in 2002.
His most successful show to date was the No Agenda tour in 2005 which gained him an international following, even sharing a stage with Bill Clinton at a performance for the Emir in Qatar.
Omid’s currently filming Mike Myers’ and Graham Gordy’s new comedy The Love Guru, in which he stars as Guru Satchabigknoba alongside Jessica Alba, Justin Timberlake and Ben Kinglsey.
If you missed his recent performance at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre as part of his Bound and Gagged tour, you can catch him on his TV series The Omid Djalili Show on BBC One.
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