Aqib Khan

Aqib Khan (; born 24 August 1994) is an English actor, best known for his leading role in the 2010 comedy film West Is West. He is also a key cast member in BBC series Ladhood.

Early life Khan was born in the city of Bradford in West Yorkshire in England, and is of Pakistani descent.

Khan attended Knowleswood Primary School prior to enrolling at Nab Wood School, then Tong High School where he took drama, followed by Thornton Grammar School where he studied for a BTEC in Sports.

Career Khan made his screen debut in the 2010 comedy film West Is West, sequel to the 1999 film East Is East, both written by Ayub Khan-Din. He was fifteen years old and studying his GCSEs when he auditioned for the role of Sajid; and was sixteen years old and in sixth form when he was cast.

When cast in West Is West, Khan had only appeared in one school theatre play and had little acting experience. He was considered "something of a find" for the film due to his resemblance to actor Jordan Routledge, who played the role of Sajid in the original film, and was selected following over 300 auditions for the part. Khan joined the cast and crew in both Salford and in India (doubling up as Pakistan) for filming of West Is West.

Of his performance, Belfast Telegraph wrote that Khan "has revealed he already had a strong connection to the character of Sajid Khan before he was cast in the sequel to hit comedy East Is East" while RTÉ wrote "newcomer Aqib Khan is superb as the cheeky, angst-ridden teen, and his change of heart plays out convincingly". The Scotsman wrote "as Sajid, young Aqib Khan has enough natural charm and confidence to make him an endearing scene-stealer" and Canadian publication National Post wrote "newbie Aqib Khan fits perfectly."

In 2014, Khan was co-lead in Jason Wingard's short film Going to Mecca alongside comedian Jack Carroll, but actor Antonio Aakeel was selected to portray the same character alongside Carroll in the 2019 feature film version of the short, titled Eaten by Lions.

In November 2019, Khan appeared as part of the main cast in Ladhood, a BBC series written by and starring comedian Liam Williams. The series details the experiences of his adolescence, and serves as a television adaptation of his BBC Radio 4 show of the same name. In April 2021, Khan rejoined the cast as filming began for season two of Ladhood, which was released in August 2021.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 2010 West Is West Sajid Khan Film 2011 The Jury Rashid Jarwar Main role; 5 episodes 2013 Our Lad Umer Short film 2014 Going to Mecca Short film 2014 Remember Me Zamir Salim 2 episodes 2016 Pit Stop Noveed Film 2017 In the Dark Mikey 1 episode 2017 Freesia Yusuf Short film 2017 Apostasy Umar Film 2017 Lies We Tell Pinoo Film 2017 In Another Life Tarek Film 2018 Wasteland Bilal Film 2019 Years and Years Vijay Babu 2 episodes 2019–2022 Ladhood Adnan Masood Main role 2020 Ghosts Nev 1 episode 2023 Call Jonathan Pie Sam Radio 4 sitcom