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Paul Chahidi

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Paul Chahidi
Born
Giv Paul Khatib-Chahidi

(1969-08-22) August 22, 1969 (age 56)
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
OccupationActor

Giv Paul Khatib-Chahidi[1] (born 22 August 1969), known professionally as Paul Chahidi (Persian: پل شهیدی), is an Iranian-born British actor. He has won a Theatre World Award and a Clarence Derwent Award along with having Tony and Olivier nominations.

Early life

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Paul Chahidi was born in Iran to an Iranian father and a British mother. His parents met while they were students studying at the Sorbonne in Paris. Chahidi was raised in Iran until the family left during the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and settled in the United Kingdom. Growing up in a mixed-heritage home — his Iranian father was raised as a Muslim, but was later “verging on atheist”; his English mother became a Roman Catholic — he experienced both Catholic and Anglican schools.[2] Chahidi grew up in Summertown, Oxford[3] and attended the Dragon School and Winchester College. He went on to graduate with a masters in Arabic and Persian from Trinity College, Cambridge.[4] He went on to train as an actor at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.[1]

Career

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Chahidi is an associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company.[5] He appeared at Shakespeare's Globe[6] and on Broadway in all-male productions of Twelfth Night and Richard III.[7] He was nominated for both an Olivier award and a Tony Award and won a Theatre World Award and Clarence Derwent Award for his portrayal of Maria in Twelfth Night, where he appeared alongside Mark Rylance's Olivia in 2013.[8][9][10] He played defence minister Nikolai Bulganin in Armando Iannucci's 2017 historical comedy The Death of Stalin.[11]

He had a recurring role in the BBC Three television comedy series This Country (2017–2020), in which he played the Rev. Francis Seaton, a vicar who tries to help the characters created and played by siblings Charlie Cooper and Daisy May Cooper.[12] For this role, he was nominated for the Royal Television Society Award for best Comedy Performance (Male).[3]

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1995 Bliss Mike Episode: "In Memoriam"
1996 Stella Does Tricks Chris
1999 Murder Most Horrid Hitman Episode: "Whoopi Stone"
1999 The Blonde Bombshell Reporter Episode 2
1999 Notting Hill Loud Man in Restaurant
2000 Peak Practice Pharmacist Episode: "Turning Tides"
2001 Murder in Mind Mike Stott Episode: "Teacher"
2004 The Libertine Barrillon
2004 Blackpool Registrar Episode 6
2006 Venus Period Film Director
2006 Fear of Fanny Director Television film
2007 Oliver Twist The Quack 2 episodes
2008 Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story Sir Barnett Cocks Television film
2009-2010 Ladies of Letters Anthony 11 episodes
2009, 2012-2013 Casualty Doug/Mehmet Aslan 5 episodes
2009 The Day of the Triffids (2009 TV series) Vronsky 2 episodes
2010 Hustle Tamir Abu-Alsaud Episode: "And This Little Piggy Had Money"
2010 National Theatre Live: Nation Cox
2011 Holy Flying Circus Harry Balls/News Vendor Television film
2011-2012 The Hour Ron 8 episodes
2013 What Remains Anthony Episode 1
2013 Globe on Screen: Twelfth Night Maria
2013 The Tunnel Pathologist Series 1, Episode 6
2013 Him & Her Nicholas 2 episodes
2014 The Voices Dennis Kowalski
2015 The Vote Howard Roberts Live stage broadcast
2015 And Then There Were None Isaac Morris 2 episodes
2016 National Theatre Live: As You Like It Jacques
Hot Property Headmaster
Boyka: Undisputed Kiril
2017 Maigret Michonnet Episode: "Night at the Crossroads"
2017 National Theatre Live: Salome Herod
2017 The Death of Stalin Nikolai Bulganin
2017–2020 This Country Rev. Francis Seaton 17 episodes
2018 Christopher Robin Cecil Hungerford
2019 Warren Clairevoyant Episode: "The Pond"
2019, 2025, 2026 Good Omens Sandalphon 5 episodes
2019 Britannia Domitius 8 episodes
2019 A Christmas Carol Spirit/Business Man 2 episodes
2020 Soulmates Pastor Roberts Episode: "Break on Through"
2021 Too Close Phil Cook Episode 1
2021-2024 Chad Hamid Amani 18 episodes
2022 The Other Half Farhad Television pilot
2022 See How They Run Fellowes
The Serpent Queen Charles de Bourbon 5 episodes
National Theatre at Home: Phaedra Hugo
Midsomer Murders Gabriel Arnson Episode: "A Grain of Truth"
2023 Wicked Little Letters Chief Constable Spedding
Good Boy Doctor Short film[13]
2024 Ludwig Adrian Tate Series 1, Episode 3
2026 The Night Manager Basil Karapetian 5 episodes
Ponies Alan Salek 5 episodes
Can You Keep a Secret? Clive Trunge 5 episodes
Ladies First Harry Guinness Upcoming
The Witness Professor Paul Britton Upcoming
2027 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Septon Sefton Season 2

Other work

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Paul Chahidi has appeared on a number of popular podcasts, including The QuaranTea Break Podcast[14] with Simon Ward, and Seven Stages[15] the podcast from The Stage.

References

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  1. ^ a b "From Shakespeare to Stalin: Actor Paul Chahidi Stars on Film and Stage". Kayhan Life. 3 October 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
  2. ^ "This Country: Rural priest and people — if only". www.churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 2026-04-27.
  3. ^ a b "Paul Chahidi". Dragon School. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  4. ^ Carson, Christie; Karim-Cooper, Farah, eds. (2008). Shakespeare's Globe: A Theatrical Experiment. Cambridge University Press. p. xii.
  5. ^ "Welcome to the National Theatre".
  6. ^ "Treading the broads". Independent.co.uk. 11 January 2014.
  7. ^ Dziemianowicz, Joe (20 October 2013). "Paul Chahidi is set to steal scenes in two New York stage productions – NY Daily News". New York Daily News.
  8. ^ "Paul Chahidi on Hugh Jackman's Soft Hands & Falling Head Over Heels for London's Shakespeare in Love – Broadway Buzz – Theatre.com". www.theatre.com. Archived from the original on 2018-06-23. Retrieved 2018-06-23.
  9. ^ "Rylance gets Tony nomination double". BBC News. 30 April 2014.
  10. ^ Hemley, Matthew (13 September 2013). "Fenella Woolgar and Paul Chahidi win Clarence Derwent awards". The Stage. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  11. ^ "Armando Iannucci's The Death Of Stalin a dazzling black Russian comedy". The Irish News. 18 October 2017.
  12. ^ "This Country star Paul Chahidi: All the characters have a lot of underlying pain". 8 March 2018.
  13. ^ Goldbart, Max (May 19, 2023). "Ben Whishaw Unveils First Project Since BAFTA TV Win; Toby Jones ITV Drama; 'Back To Reality' Boarded; Pact Retirement – Global Briefs". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  14. ^ "The QuaranTea Break Podcast: Ep 4: Paul Chahidi – talking This Country ending, performing in online plays and the vicar's advice for lockdown on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  15. ^ "Seven Stages Podcast: Episode 7, Paul Chahidi". The Stage. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
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