Shubham Saraf

Shubham Saraf
Born	March 1992 Calcutta, India
Alma mater	University of Warwick Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2012–present

Shubham Saraf (born March 1992) is a British actor. He earned an Evening Standard Theatre Award nomination. On television, he is known for his roles in the Netflix crime anthology Criminal: UK (2019–), the BBC One drama A Suitable Boy (2020), and the Apple TV+ series Shantaram (2022). ^[1] His films include Honour (2014).

Early life

Saraf was born in Calcutta. He spent his early childhood in Mexico and Trinidad and Tobago, before moving to London when he was 7 or 8. ^[2] He attended St Paul's School, London, where he acted in student productions. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Warwick in 2013. He then spent a year with the École Philippe Gaulier in Paris before going on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Acting from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2017. ^[3]

Career

Saraf appeared in the 2014 films Honour and The Cut . He made his professional stage debut in 2017 as revolutionary Dinesh Gupta in Lions and Tigers at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. ^[4] In 2018, he appeared in the BBC One political thriller Bodyguard as PR adviser Tahir Mahmood. ^[5] He also had stage roles in a gender-swapped version of Hamlet at Shakespeare's Globe and An Adventure Bush Theatre.

The following year, Saraf began starring as Detective Constable Kyle Petit in the Netflix crime anthology Criminal: UK . ^[6] He was in the main cast of the BBC One drama miniseries A Suitable Boy as Nawabzada Firoz Khan. ^[7] He appeared in Three Sisters at the Almeida Theatre and Romeo and Juliet at the National Theatre. ^[8] In 2022, Saraf starred as Prabhu Kharre in the Apple TV+ adaptation of Shantaram and played Nathuram Godse in The Father and the Assassin , also at the National, ^[9] the latter of which earned Saraf an Evening Standard Theatre Award nomination.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	Suspension of Disbelief	Student
2013	Miss	Man	Short film
2014	Honour	Adel
	The Cut	Levon
2016	Tape	Daniel Giulani
2017	This Feels Fucking Weird		Short film
2018	Overlord	Hays
	Shakespeare's Globe : Hamlet	Ophelia, Osric	Recording
2019	6 Underground	Man
2020	Acrimonious	Caspar	Short film
	Bath Salts	Sham	Short film
2021	The Power	Junior Doctor	Zee5 film
	The Track	Harry	Short film
2023	Blind	Nikhil Saraf	JioCinema film
	The Dandies of Albertopolis	Julius	Short film
TBA	I'll Play Mother	Cyrus
	Untitled Cliffhanger film	TBA	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Fresh Meat	Protester	1 episode
2018	Bodyguard	Tahir Mahmood	Recurring role (3 episodes)
2019–present	Criminal: UK	Kyle Petit	Main role (6 episodes)
2020	A Suitable Boy	Nawabzada Firoz Khan	Miniseries; main role (6 episodes)
2021	Romeo and Juliet	Benvolio	Television recording
2022	Shantaram	Prabaker "Prabhu" Kharre	Main role

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2017	Lions and Tigers	Dinesh Gupta	Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London
2018	Hamlet	Ophelia, Osric	Globe Theatre, London
	An Adventure	Rasik	Bush Theatre, London
2019	Three Sisters	Nikolay Tuzenbach	Almeida Theatre, London
2021	Romeo and Juliet	Benvolio	Royal National Theatre, London
2022	The Father and the Assassin	Nathuram Godse
2023	When Winston Went to War with the Wireless	Peter Eckersley	Donmar Warehouse, London [10]
2024	An Enemy of the People	Hovstad	Duke of York’s Theatre, London [11]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2022	Evening Standard Theatre Awards	Best Actor	The Father and the Assassin	Nominated	[12] [13]

References

1. Sunder, Gautam (26 October 2022). "Shubham Saraf and Elektra Kilbey on 'Shantaram' and the magic of recreating 1980s Bombay". The Hindu. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
2. Morgan, Fergus (24 February 2023). "Shubham Saraf: 'As a British-Asian actor, I'm in uncharted territory. I'm discovering new ground'". The Stage. Retrieved 30 May 2023.(subscription required)
3. "Shubham Saraf (BA)". Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
4. Taylor, Paul (4 September 2017). "Lions and Tigers review: Superb central performance from Shubham Saraf". The Independent. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022.
5. Jeffery, Morgan (14 September 2020). "Meet the cast of Netflix's Criminal". Radio Times. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
6. Kalidas, Preeya (19 September 2020). "Netflix drama Criminal actor, Shubham Saraf". BBC Asian Network. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
7. "'A Suitable Boy' star Shubham Saraf lands a role in 'Shantaram'". Entertainment Times. 14 August 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
8. "Shubham Saraf". National Theatre. May 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
9. Ramachandran, Naman (13 August 2022). "'Shantaram,' Gandhi's Assassin, Ophelia: The Many Faces of Shubham Saraf". Variety. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
10. Fry, Chloe (13 June 2023). "Interview: Shubham Saraf – When Winston Went to War with the Wireless". CentreStage. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
11. Wood, Alex (26 October 2023). "Full cast for An Enemy of the People with Matt Smith announced, including Jessica Brown Findlay and Shubham Saraf". WhatsOnStage. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
12. Wood, Alex (17 October 2022). "Nominees for Evening Standard Theatre Awards announced". WhatsOnStage. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
13. Bamigboye, Baz (2022-12-12). "'Killing Eve' Star Jodie Comer Wins Top Acting Prize At Evening Standard Theatre Awards For London Stage Debut 'Prima Facie'". Deadline. Retrieved 31 July 2023.

External links

• Shubham Saraf at IMDb
• Shubham Saraf at Insight