- Born
- Height5′ 10½″ (1.79 m)
- Floyd is an actor, writer and director who is a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit, won a British Independent Film Award and been nominated for two more. As an actor, he won a BIFA and as a filmmaker he wrote/directed the romance 'Unicorns' which was nominated for 7 BIFAs, winning one. He has been profiled by Variety, The Guardian, Evening Standard, Mr Porter, City AM and Attitude among others.
As an actor he is known to international and US audiences for starring as afflicted undercover ex-soldier Nasser in Hulu's hit drama series 'No Man's Land' which is created by Ron Leshem (who made the original Euphoria). The show plays globally in 114 territories and series 2 premieres in 2025. He is also known to global audiences for co-starring in the hit 2023 Netflix refugee epic 'The Swimmers', which has been seen by more than 100 million people on the platform, to date, and was no.1 in 47 countries and top 10 in 88. It was BAFTA nominated for Outstanding British Film. To UK audiences James is known for starring as the enigmatic Gabriel Varma in ITV's popular drama 'The Good Karma Hospital', which peaked at over 8 million viewers on the prime time Sunday evening slot. It played for 4 seasons.
The Daily Telegraph said Floyd was 'reminiscent of Robert De Niro' for his lead performance in Sally El Hosaini's acclaimed film 'My Brother the Devil', with Empire Magazine calling him 'magnetic' and Timeout stating he 'must be on every director's must-cast list.' The film and James won awards globally at Sundance, Berlin and BFI London Film Festival among others.
Other notable credits as an actor include lead roles in Oscar-nominated Paula Van Der Oest's romance film 'Love in a Bottle' and also IM Global's spy thriller 'Newcomer' along side Golden Globe winner Anthony LaPaglia. He co-starred in BBC Film's 'City of Tiny Lights' with Billie Piper and Cush Jumbo, and also in Pathe's 'Tormented' with Olly Alexander and Tuppence Middleton. On stage he's starred in acclaimed plays for the likes of Laurie Sansom and Anna Ziegler.
As a filmmaker his 2024 film 'Unicorns' won the Audience award and the Jury prize at Dinard film festival. It was nominated for seven BIFAs, including two for James, Best Debut Writer and Best Debut Director. It had its world premiere at TiFF to great reviews and was released in UK cinemas by Signature and on Netflix in 2024. It will be released internationally in 2025. The film is a modern romantic drama produced by River Road (12 Years A Slave) and Maven Screen Media (The Kids Are Alright), and executive produced by Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot).
- IMDb mini biography by: Chelsea Duarte
- He is of mixed heritage. His father is English, with Scottish ancestry. His mother was born in Singapore but is of Indian Tamil ethnicity. In the 1950s when she was in her teens her family drove from Tamil Nadu, India to London, United Kingdom. Their journey is documented in The Times archive. His father (Peter), was a civil servant, working as a probation officer in tough areas such as Tottenham and Holloway. His mother (Leela) taught English to refugees and also literacy to Category A prisoners at HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs. She also worked as a music teacher. Floyd has two older brothers, one of whom is Sky Sports broadcaster Matt Kabir.
- Got a government scholarship to the all-boys independent secondary University College School (UCS) in London, UK, because his parents income was low enough, and his state school grades from Hampstead Parochial were exceptional.
- The south Indian accent used for The Good Karma Hospital (2017) is a mimic of family members from the region, some of whom are doctors and their personalities helped to shape Gabriel.
- He has family in Madrid, Spain. He speaks conversational Spanish, French, basic Arabic from No Man's Land (2020), is beginning Hindi.
- Studied an undergraduate degree in Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method for one year at London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) but dropped out to pursue acting feeling that his creativity was being stifled.
- I just love creative forces of nature who never gather any moss and keep on rolling harder than Ol Man River.
- [on his success in My Brother The Devil] I had a director and editor who picked all the best takes. I'm very proud of my performance and what I did, but at the end of the day, filmmaking is a director's medium and your performance can be enhanced or ruined in the editing process. Actors get a lot more credit than they deserve, there is a lot more going on behind the scenes; De Niro owes his career to Scorsese, Brando owes his career to Kazan. There in lies the problem with screen acting, you have to seek out great filmmakers.
- [on people wanting to be an actor] Honestly, I would say do not do it. But if you can conquer continuous rejection by dozens of people, and yet still have the madness to go and pursue it regardless, then become an actor. I would put that and hard work ethic above talent, pertaining to a more pragmatic advice for becoming an actor or artist of any kind I guess. However I am being paradoxical because I am personally much more interested in creative talent. Because I am one of the few nutters in this industry who believes in blind optimism and that raw talent will win out in the long run.
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