Antonio Aakeel
Antonio Aakeel
Born
Wolverhampton, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationActor
TelevisionThree Girls
Ackley Bridge
Dublin Murders

Antonio Aakeel is an English actor, known for his leading role in the 2018 comedy film Eaten by Lions, for which he was named a Screen International Star of Tomorrow by Screen Daily. He also appeared in Tomb Raider and the BAFTA award-winning series Three Girls.[1]

Early life

Antonio Aakeel was born in Wolverhampton, England, and moved around the West Midlands as a child.[2] He was inspired to pursue acting after being given a one-line role in a school nativity play and subsequently began acting in local theatre.[3] He speaks Punjabi and Hindi.[4]

Career

Film

Aakeel gained his first leading feature role in the film Eaten by Lions as Omar, a young man in search of his estranged father. The film had a wide cinematic release in April 2019 and also starred comedians Johnny Vegas, Jack Carroll and Asim Chaudhry.[5]

Screen Daily announced Aakeel would be leading Abid Khan's debut feature Granada Nights as Ben, a heartbroken British tourist on a journey of hedonism and discovery in Granada, Spain.[6]

He appeared opposite Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander in Warner Bros.' 2018 Tomb Raider reboot, directed by Roar Uthaug.[7]

In 2016, Aakeel was cast alongside Riz Ahmed and Billie Piper in the London crime thriller City of Tiny Lights directed by BAFTA winner Pete Travis.[8] The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival 2016 and released in UK cinemas April 2017.[9]

Later that year, Aakeel landed a supporting role in The Hungry, Film London's contemporary feature adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus playing troubled brother to Life of Pi's Suraj Sharma.[10] The Film premiered under special presentations at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.[11]

In 2015, he appeared as Raza in feature film The Contract, written by David Marconi and directed by Nic Auerbach.

Aakeel starred as Nasir Baloch in the political short film The Line of Freedom, directed by David Whitney. The film depicts the true story of a murdered student rights activist and premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival.[12] Upon its release, the film immediately met with controversy and was subsequently prohibited in Pakistan.[13]

Television

Aakeel gained his first television role in the E4 series Skins.[14] He then led an episode of BBC One's Moving On playing Mati, a young refugee whose leave to remain is revoked on his eighteenth birthday. Directed by Reece Dinsdale, the episode won 'Best Daytime Programme' at the Royal Television Society Awards in 2018.[15]

In May 2017, he appeared in BBC One's three-part BAFTA winning drama Three Girls directed by Philippa Lowthorpe.[16] In 2019, Aakeel appeared in two episodes of the Channel 4 drama series Ackley Bridge as Anwar Wazir.[17] Later that year, Aakeel began portraying the recurring role of Rafael Hyland in the BBC One thriller series Dublin Murders.[18]

Video game

Aakeel gained his first video game role in the Immortals of Aveum as Devyn.

Theatre

Aakeel was cast in the title role in the stage adaptation of Guantanamo Boy. The play ran at the Half Moon Theatre and toured nationally at Middle Temple Hall, Almeida Theatre, The Hat Factory, Mercury Theatre, Burnley Youth Theatre and The Drum Theatre.[19] The Stage's Susan Elkin wrote Aakeel "is great as the distraught, anguished, terrified Khalid. The downhill spiral followed by the final return of a damaged-for-life boy to Rochdale is well handled too. He has a very expressive face."[20]

In 2015, he played the lead role of Artie in Waiting for Garbo at the Crescent Theatre as part of the Birmingham Theatre Festival. Love Midlands Theatre reviewed the performance, commenting his "portrayal of a brash New Yorker falling apart is utterly convincing."[21]

Antonio has also performed locally with Midlands based theatre company Round Midnight.[22]

References

  1. ↑ "Stars of Tomorrow". Screen Daily. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  2. ↑ "Wolverhampton actor secures feature-length international film role". NativeMonster. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  3. ↑ "Birmingham actor makes Hollywood Debut". What's On Birmingham. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  4. ↑ "Interview with Antonio Aakeel". Scottish Asian Magazine. Archived from the original on 25 August 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  5. ↑ "Asian Express Newspaper - Punjabi-blooded Antonio Aakeel is climbing the ladder as one of Britain's rising young stars". 28 April 2017.
  6. ↑ "Antonio Aakeel wraps UK comedy-drama 'Granada Nights' (Exclusive)".
  7. ↑ "Birmingham actor Antonio Aakeel to star with Alicia Vikander in Tomb Raider re-boot". Birmingham Mail. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
  8. ↑ "Meet the young cast of City of Tiny Lights". ScreenTerrier. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  9. ↑ "Popular Birmingham actor to make big screen debut". I Am Birmingham. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  10. ↑ "Meet the Birmingham actor who has been cast in an international Shakespeare film". StyleBham. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  11. ↑ "The Hungry - TIFF". tiff.net. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  12. ↑ "The Line of Freedom Premiere". Dubai Film Festival. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  13. ↑ "The Line of Freedom and the brief IMDb ban in Pakistan". Global Voices. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  14. ↑ "Antonio Aakeel - NewUrban". NUBI. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  15. ↑ "RTS Programme Awards 2018 in partnership with Audio Network". 13 October 2017.
  16. ↑ "Antonio Aakeel set to appear in BBC drama". Asian Image. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  17. ↑ "Antonio Aakeel - CV". Curtis Brown. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  18. ↑ "Stars of Tomorrow 2018: Antonio Aakeel (Actor)".
  19. ↑ "Review: Guantanamo Boy". Children's Theatre Reviews. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  20. ↑ "Guantanamo Boy Theatre Review - WhatsonStage Susan Elkin". WhatsonStage.com. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  21. ↑ "Waiting For Garbo Theatre Review". Love Midlands Theatre. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  22. ↑ "Follow me theatre play a success". The Redditch Standard. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
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