- Born
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- Born in Nottingham, England, Arsher Avesta Ali hails from a South Asian background. His father was a welder at the world-famous Raleigh Bike factory in Nottingham and the family ran a chauffeur business.
After finishing secondary school, he decided to become a sports journalist but needed an extra subject to fill out his college timetable. He added Drama to his list of subjects, due to having so many friends in that class.
After receiving encouragement from his drama teacher over the course, Arsher decided to drop all other subjects to focus singularly on Drama and apply to only one drama school after getting a taste for method acting, East 15.
Arsher left Nottingham for London, amid a mixed reaction from his family - determined to make his new path a success and become the first member of his family to work in the arts.
Upon leaving East 15, he signed with Ruth Young at what was then PFD (now United Agents) and was named as one of Screen Internationals 'Stars of Tomorrow'.
He continues to showcase his considerable versatility across TV and Theatre and remains extremely selective in the work he commits to.
- IMDb mini biography by: Michael Blake
- SpouseRoxy Shahidi(2010 - ?) (1 child)
- Trained at East 15 Acting School, UK.
- Winner of 'Outstanding Actor in a TV Movie' at the Monte-Carlo TV Festival 'Golden Nymph Awards' for his role in 'Complicit'.
- A keen supporter of Nottingham Forest Football Club.
- Lists Daniel Day-Lewis, Tony Leung, Angela Bassett and James Stewart as some of his favourite actors.
- Winner Of The "Laurence Olivier Student Award" 2005.
- [on whether Asian actors are largely typecast] I'm waiting for someone to just lump them all into one character and then maybe it'll implode. Waiting for one long character description that says: 'A doctor who moonlights as a drug-dealing cab driver with an impending arranged marriage who also doesn't know if he's a Muslim or not but has aspirations of becoming a suicide-bombing cornershop owner.' I think a lot of it has to do with casting and writing in the first place. People need to be more open minded.
- [on the kind of work he is routinely offered] Eight five per cent of the scripts are all total bollocks. I'm not interested in it at all, I am a bit sick of it actually. As an Asian actor, seventy per cent of what comes your way is written like '24' - you're the bad guy, the Arab guy. Every dark-skinned guy is the baddie. I see floppy haired white middle class public school boys being offered lots of interesting work. They are professionally successful... and sometimes you just think 'Aargh'. It is frustrating, although I am not attacking them. I am a bit wary of jumping on the race soap box as it is difficult for any actor to get a foothold but I can only discuss my own experience which has been frustrating.
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