Many British actors who experience fame and popularity in their home country do not experience the same in other countries, including the US. Some actors are able to find great success in both markets. One of these actors in Raza Jaffrey.
Jaffrey is probably best known for his role as Aasar Khan on Season 4 of Homeland. His other popular roles include playing Zafar Younis on Spooks. He also starred on Code Black on CBS as Dr. Neal Hudson. Although these are his most well-known roles, he has appeared on television programs since 1999.
Despite his fame from these performances, there is a great deal that the public does not know about this actor. His life is far more diverse and interesting than one might assume from his celebrity status, as he is not simply defined by excessive wealth and living in luxury. Instead, he is a person with many interests, abilities, and pursuits. His personal life and work life are also closely intertwined.
Knowing the person behind the popular characters he portrays can help people become even more invested in Jaffrey’s performances. Here are ten interesting facts about the actor.
10. He sang the national anthem at Dodger Stadium
Although the bulk of his time in the public eye has been spent acting, Jaffrey is also known to have an exceptional singing voice. His fame and singing ability led to a memorable experience singing the national anthem at the famous home of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has stated that the experience was a great honor.
9. His nephew is Adam Jaffrey
Raza Jaffrey is the uncle of the musician Adam Jaffrey, best known for his role as the bassist in the band Trailer Trash Tracys. This band features experimental “dream pop” music, and was founded in London in 2009.
It is unsurprising that his relatives are musical, as Raza is known to be an excellent singer as well. His life in the entertainment industry has brought out a wide variety of his talents, including both acting and singing.
8. He went to college with Rupert Penry-Jones
Raza and Rupert worked together on the highly popular BBC One drama Spooks. However, the two met long before beginning to work together on this program. In fact, they were schoolmates at Dulwich College, where Raza was a student from 1986 to 1991.
This is only one coincidence of many that include cast members from this popular television program.
7. Both women he has been married to are actresses
Although being famous and successful can certainly make it easy to find willing partners, Jaffrey instead has shown that he tends to fall for successful women in his own industry. In 2007, he married Miranda Raison, a successful actress of both stage and film. They were married until 2009.
About five years later, in 2014, he married another actress named Lara Pulver. The two are still together today.
6. Both of his wives appeared on Spooks
Not only was the show a reunion of sorts for Raza and his college friend, it was also the place where he would meet his wives. It is natural, of course, that romantic interests would spring up between people who interact with each other on a daily basis. However, it is very interesting that Spooks is not only one of the most significant acting jobs of Jaffrey’s career, but also a place where he would meet and fall in love with a woman, twice.
5. He was in a band
Jaffrey makes his living as a talented and highly sought after actor. However, he has also pursued other forms of entertaining as well. While studying English and drama in Manchester, Jaffrey was the lead singer of a jazz funk band. Clearly, he is a man of diverse skills and passions. Luckily, however, his success with the band was not so great that it prevented him from becoming the actor that many people love to watch today.
4. He has an extensive background in theater
While his greatest successes in terms of fame and fortune have come from television, Jaffrey is an accomplished actor in theater as well. In fact, he acted in plays long before transitioning to the screen, and still appears on stage occasionally.
One of the highlights of his stage career was when he was cast as Sky in the 2001 production of Mamma Mia! As well, he was featured in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s production of Bombay Dreams. For this performance, Jaffrey was showered with praise from critics and fans alike.
3. He started his own show
Jaffrey is also an entrepreneurial man who used his experience in the entertainment industry to create and co-produce a show called RED. This was a dance show that was designed to highlight many of the different styles of dance that are connected to India, where his father’s family is from. Some of the styles featured on this show included belly dancing, salsa, and kathkali.
2. He is proud of his mixed race
Jaffrey’s father was a sea captain in India while his mother hailed from Liverpool. These two cultural influences have forged his own unique identity and worldview. He has stated in interviews that he greatly dislikes being labeled as an Asian actor. Instead, he prefers to show the world that a successful individual can be a product of two wildly different cultures.
1. He is a licensed pilot
Jaffrey is a highly talented performer, and he has used his abilities in acting, singing, and producing to forge a successful career in the entertainment industry. However, he is also driven by goals outside of this realm.
Jaffrey earned his pilot’s license and still flies today, normally out of the Van Nuys Airport in California. Further, he was actually planning on joining the Royal Air Force as a pilot after completing his studies. Luckily for his fans, he continued to pursue acting as a career. However, this shows that Jaffrey is competent in many impressive pursuits.
Conclusion
Raza Jaffrey has emerged as a popular and successful actor on television programs like Code Black, Homeland, and Spooks. However, there is much more to him than audiences are exposed to on screen.
His talents are far more diverse than simply acting, as he has seen success in singing, producing, and even flying airplanes. As well, his unique identity has been formed by the combination of two cultures, and he is proud to be who he is today. Understanding how varied and interesting Jaffrey’s life is can certainly help audiences become more invested in his performances.
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