6.9
In Your Dreams
2025
Omid Djalili
Acting
Born September 30, 1965Chelsea, London, England, UK
Biography
Omid Djalili is a British stand-up comedian, actor, television producer and writer. Djalili was born on 30 September 1965 in St Mary Abbots Hospital in Kensington, London, to Iranian Baháʼí parents Ahmad and Parvaneh Djalili. His parents emigrated from Tehran to London in 1958. He has a brother and sister. His mother was a dressmaker who at one point assisted Iranian singer Googoosh. His father was a liaison officer at the Iranian embassy in which he would provide medical assistance. He was also a photographer whose pictures ended up in the newspaper Kayhan. He attended Holland Park School where he failed A-level exams a record six times and faked his results to gain entry to Ulster University in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, studying English and theatre studies having been turned down by 16 drama schools. Djalili cited Jack Lemmon, Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Julia Roberts as influences. The first significant success of his stand-up comedy career was at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1995 with "Short, Fat Kebab Shop Owner's Son", followed by "The Arab and the Jew" with Jewish comedian Ivor Dembina in 1996. Djalili has appeared in a number of films, most notably Gladiator, The Mummy, Mean Machine, The World Is Not Enough, Alien Autopsy, Spy Game, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Grow Your Own, Notting Hill, Mr Nice, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Sex and the City 2 and provides his voice in Over the Hedge. He has observed that he usually appears as a generic Middle Eastern background character in many of these films, often commenting that he appears in the James Bond film as the "Second Azerbaijani oil pipe attendant". He appeared as Nasim in 22 episodes of the U.S. sitcom Whoopi, starring Whoopi Goldberg, and picked up an international film award for Best Supporting Actor in Casanova, starring alongside Heath Ledger and Jeremy Irons. Djalili has won awards for his comedy. These include the EMMA Award, Time Out Award, and LWT Comedy Award for Best Stand-up Comedian, Spirit of the Fringe Award as well as the One World Media Award for his Channel 4 documentary, Bloody Foreigners. He has also been nominated for awards, such as the Perrier Award for Best Comedian, the Gemini Award for Best Comedy Performance of 2003, the South Bank Award for Best Comedy of 2003, the Royal Television Society Award for Best Stand-up, and the European TV Award for his Bloody Foreigners.
Movies
See All
7.6
The Bad Guys 2
2025
6.7
Deep Cover
2025
7.7
Journey to Bethlehem
2023
6.7
Love Again
2023
5.7
Tomorrow Morning
2022
0.0
Christmas Comedy Club with Lost Voice Guy
2021
0.0
Les Dawson Lost Tapes
2021
0.0
Cold War Steve Meets the Outside World
2020
0.0
The Way Out
2020
8.0
We Are Most Amused and Amazed
2018
6.1
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
2018
7.1
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
2018
6.4
Dying Laughing
2017
4.7
The Comedian's Guide to Survival
2016
7.1
A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman
2015
5.3
Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism
2015
7.0
Shaun the Sheep Movie
2015
0.0
Retrospective
2014
6.1
Omid Djalili: Tour of Duty
2012
3.2
Big Fat Gypsy Gangster
2011
7.5
The Egyptian Job
2011
6.8
Just Like Us
2011
6.1
Mr. Nice
2010
6.0
Sex and the City 2
2010
6.1
The Infidel
2010
5.7
Omid Djalili: Live in London
2009
0.0
New Town
2009
5.8
Dead Man Running
2009
7.2
We Are Most Amused
2008
4.1
The Love Guru
2008
6.0
Omid Djalili: No Agenda
2007
6.5
Grow Your Own
2007
7.3
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
2007
The Secret Policeman's Ball: The Ball in the Hall
5.3
The Secret Policeman's Ball: The Ball in the Hall
2006
6.6
Over the Hedge
2006
0.0
World's Greatest Stand Up: Volume One
2006
5.7
Alien Autopsy
2006
6.4
My Family and Other Animals
2005
6.5
Casanova
2005
0.0
Chopratown
2005
One-Night Stand: Omid Djalili
0.0
One-Night Stand: Omid Djalili
2005
9.0
Deadlines
2005
Cinema Iran
5.5
Cinema Iran
2005
Comic Aid
6.5
Comic Aid
2005
5.9
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
2004
7.0
Modigliani
2004
5.5
The Calcium Kid
2004
6.1
Dinotopia 6: The Exit
2003
6.2
Dinotopia 5: The Virus
2003
6.2
Dinotopia 4: New Horizons
2003
6.3
Dinotopia 3: The Election
2002
6.2
Dinotopia 2: The Temptation
2002
6.0
Anita and Me
2002
6.3
Mean Machine
2001
6.9
Spy Game
2001
8.2
Gladiator
2000
6.3
The World Is Not Enough
1999
4.4
Mad Cows
1999
Coming Soon
8.0
Coming Soon
1999
7.3
Notting Hill
1999
7.0
The Mummy
1999
Performance Live: The Way Out
0.0
Performance Live: The Way Out
About A Bell
0.0
About A Bell
TV Shows
See All
7.1
The Change
0.0
Britney
7.0
Blankety Blank
7.0
Paul O'Grady's Saturday Night Line Up
5.6
Michael McIntyre's The Wheel
5.0
Winning Combination
7.3
Beat the Chasers
7.8
His Dark Materials
7.0
Going Forward
6.8
Insert Name Here
7.4
Dickensian
7.1
Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled
0.0
Comedy World Cup
0.0
The Great Sport Relief Bake Off
6.0
The Paul Reiser Show
6.8
Little Crackers
The Michael Ball Show
0.0
The Michael Ball Show
Let's Dance for Sport Relief
0.0
Let's Dance for Sport Relief
All the Queen's Horses with Alan Titchmarsh
0.0
All the Queen's Horses with Alan Titchmarsh
5.9
Kate Garraway's Life Stories
5.5
Headcases
7.7
The Omid Djalili Show
7.8
Would I Lie to You?
7.2
The Graham Norton Show
4.3
The One Show
4.3
The One Show
7.0
Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive
7.5
TV Heaven, Telly Hell
6.9
Live at the Apollo
6.0
Celebrity Mastermind
8.4
Whoopi
5.1
Dinotopia
7.6
Top Gear
6.1
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
8.0
Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
8.1
Black Books
6.3
Lock, Stock...
6.5
Jason and the Argonauts
Small Potatoes
7.5
Small Potatoes
6.8
Relic Hunter
Coming Soon
0.0
Coming Soon
6.7
Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round
7.5
Midsomer Murders
7.1
Never Mind the Buzzcocks
6.6
Room 101
7.3
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
5.8
GMTV
7.1
Have I Got News for You
7.1
Have I Got News for You
8.1
One Night Stand
6.5
Dispatches
6.6
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries
5.9
Question Time
7.0
Have I Got a Bit More News for You
The Siege
0.0
The Siege
Chandshanbeh Ba Sina
0.0