| Ray Panthaki | |
| Birth Date: | 1979 1, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | London, England |
| Occupation: | Actor, screenwriter, director, film producer |
| Years Active: | 1999–present |
Ray Panthaki (;[1] born 20 January 1979) is a British actor, producer, screenwriter and director best known for the roles he played in Marcella (2016-2020), Away (2020), and the movie Boiling Point (2021), for which he was nominated for the 2021 BIFA for Best Supporting Actor.
Other credits include Tube Tales (1999), Ali G Indahouse (2002), 28 Days Later (2002), Bollywood Queen (2003), Kidulthood (2006), Provoked (2006), Convenience (2013), It's a Wonderful Afterlife (2010), Screwed (2011), Interview with a Hitman (2012), Convenience (2013), Colette (2018), Official Secrets (2019), Gangs of London (2020), and The Serpent Queen (2022).
Panthaki was born in London to second-generation Indian parents.[2] His parents belong to India's Parsi minority community.[3]
Panthaki is best known for the roles he played on ITV and Netflix Original Series Marcella and Netflix Original Series Away alongside Hilary Swank. As Hassan B in Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G Indahouse, He appeared in the films Colette, 28 Days Later, Official Secrets, Convenience, Tube Tales, Provoked, Interview with a Hitman, It's a Wonderful Afterlife, and the 2006 film Kidulthood, which he also produced.[4]
In 2006, he was nominated for "Best Supporting Actor in a Play" at the TMA Theatre Awards for his role in Gladiator Games. Later that year, he set up the London-based production company Urban Way.[5] Panthaki made his West End theatrical debut in July 2008 in the play In My Name at the Trafalgar Studios.[6] He has performed twice at the Royal Court Theatre in London in Where Do We Live by Christopher Shinn and The Westbridge by Rachel De-Lehay. He went on to play a leading role in Tanika Gupta's The Empress for the Royal Shakespeare Company directed by Emma Rice.
In 2013, Panthaki's directorial debut Life Sentence, a film which he also wrote, won Best UK Short at the East End Film Festival 2013.[7] [8] [9] In 2013, Panthaki produced and starred in the comedy film Convenience starring alongside Vicky McClure and Adeel Akhtar.[10] [11] The film's director Keri Collins won 'Best Breakthrough' at the 2014 BAFTA Cymru for his work on the film.[12] [13] [14] [15]
In 2014, he was announced as one of 18 BAFTA 'Breakthrough Brits' a celebration of Britain's stars of tomorrow alongside fellow actors Stacy Martin, Katie Leung and Callum Turner.[16] In 2016, Panthaki was cast as DCI Rav Sangha in Hans Rosenfeldt's Nordic noir detective series Marcella.[17]
In 2017, it was announced that Panthaki had signed on to Wash Westmoreland's Colette alongside Keira Knightley and Dominic West to play real-life French playwright Pierre Veber, in the biopic based on the French novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette.[18] Panthaki attended the world premier at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival alongside co-stars Keira Knightley and Dominic West, where the film received positive reviews.[19]
In 2020 Panthaki appeared in the Netflix Original series Away, alongside Hilary Swank, as Group Captain Ram Arya, second in command on a mission to Mars.[20]
In 2021 Panthaki was nominated for the BIFA for Best Supporting Actor at the British Independent Film Awards 2021 for his role as Freeman in Boiling Point alongside Stephen Graham.[21] [22]
| Denotes works that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | The Bill | Charlie | Episode: "Taking Sides" | |
| 1999 | Jump Boy | Shamil | Short film | |
| Tube Tales | Mo | Segment: "Grasshopper" | ||
| 2000 | Losing It | Ray | Television film | |
| 2001 | The Armando Iannucci Shows | Episode: "Communication" | ||
| My Family | Gary | Episode: "Trust Never Sleeps" | ||
| 2002 | Blood Strangers | Zafar Wahid | Television film | |
| Ali G Indahouse | Hassan B | |||
| Spooks | Chalak Ahmed | Episode: "One Last Dance"; uncredited | ||
| Licks | Pizza man | Short film; also co-producer | ||
| 28 Days Later | Private Bedford | |||
| 2003 | Bollywood Queen | Anil | ||
| Rehab | Naz | Television film | ||
| Doctors | Duncan Marks | Episode: "Donations" | ||
| 2003-2005 | EastEnders | Ronny | 158 episodes | |
| 2005 | Blessed | Lance | 8 episodes | |
| 2006 | Kidulthood | Mark | Also co-producer | |
| Provoked | Ravi | |||
| Strictly Confidential | Ali | Series 1 Episode 3 | ||
| 2007 | Veils | Samir | Short film | |
| The Feral Generation | Vincent | Also producer | ||
| 2009 | City Rats | Dean | Also executive producer | |
| 2010 | It's a Wonderful Afterlife | Jazz Sethi | ||
| 2011 | Screwed | Neil | ||
| 2012 | Interview with a Hitman | Franco | ||
| The Man Inside | Bose | Also executive producer | ||
| 2013 | Jadoo | |||
| Life of Crime | DS Nabeel Kothari | Episode: "1997" | ||
| Convenience | Ajay | Also producer | ||
| 2014 | DCI Banks | Jeff Kitson | Episodes: "Bad Boy Parts 1 & 2" | |
| Cryptic | Cochise | |||
| The Wrong Mans | Khalil | 2 episodes | ||
| 2015 | World War Dead: Rise of the Fallen | Marcus | ||
| Crackanory | Nasim | |||
| 2016 | One Crazy Thing | Jay Veer | Also producer | |
| Oysters Have Feelings Too | Jay | Short film | ||
| Ghosted | Paul | |||
| 2016-2020 | Marcella | DI/DCI Rav Sangha | 24 episodes | |
| 2018 | Colette | Veber | ||
| 2019 | Official Secrets | Kamal Ahmed | ||
| 2020 | Dreams | Dreams architect | Video game' voice only | |
| Gangs of London | Jevan Kapadia | 8 episodes | ||
| Away | Ram Arya | 10 episodes | ||
| Ernie | Writer and producer | |||
| 2021 | Prime Minister Atwood | |||
| Boiling Point | Freeman | Also executive producer | ||
| 2022 | The Serpent Queen | Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine | ||
| 2023 | Bonus Track[23] | Mr. Zeppelin | ||
| Boiling Point | Freeman | BBC television series | ||
| TBA | Fortunate Sons |