Jamie Zubairi

Jamie Zubairi (born 19 August 1972) is an English-Malaysian actor, writer and artist. He started his acting career working on the BBC television series Grange Hill and has appeared on numerous television shows including Cucumber and Holby City, on radio as Inspector Chen in Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen detective series, as well as being a prolific stage performer and writer.

Early life and education Jamie Zubairi was born in Aldershot, England in 1972 to an English mother and a Malaysian father. From 1973, Zubairi was brought up in Klang, Malaysia, but returned to England in his teenage years. Zubairi was educated at Rutland Sixth Form College and then studied Art Foundation at the De Montfort University in Leicester, England. Zubairi trained to be an actor at LAMDA, graduating in 1997.

Career Zubairi has performed in many stage productions. In 2010, he wrote and starred in Skylarking at the North Devon Festival and appeared in Wolf at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The next year, Zubairi played the father in Yellow Earth's Why The Lion Danced and made his New York stage debut at the 59E59 Theaters in George Orwell's Burmese Days. In 2012, he performed in You Me Bum Bum Train, Mozart's Abduction From The Seraglio, These Associations at Tate Modern by Tino Sehgal and performed his one-man mixed-media project Unbroken Line at the Oval House Theatre. In 2014 Zubairi co-wrote, co-produced and performed in Expectations. He has appeared as Dr. Rank in A Doll's House and in Parliament Square at the Royal Exchange Theatre.

In 2015, Zubairi appeared as Max in three episodes of Russell T Davies' Cucumber. In 2017, the feature film Tides was released. It stars Zubairi, but is notable for also being his first screenwriting credit. Tides had its World Premiere at the BFI London Film Festival and released nationwide in 2018. In 2018, Zubairi appeared in Witness for the Prosecution at County Hall, London.

In 2021, Zubairi appeared as Dorje Lingpa in the seventh series of Doctor Who: The Early Adventures.

In March 2022, Zubairi starred as Kenneth Williams in Diary of a Somebody, which was performed at the Seven Dials Playhouse, London. In June 2022, Zubairi starred as Kuzinov in In The Weeds. The play, set on a Hebridean island, was performed at the Ustinov Studio in Bath and rated 3/5 stars by The Stage. In November 2022, Zubairi appeared in the play Guy Fawkes as Kit Wright, performing at the York Theatre Royal. Jessie Burchett, writing for The Yorker praised Zubairi, writing that he "inject[ed] a welcome dose of pantomime energy".

Zubairi starred as Three and Petko in the BBC audiobook for Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Connections, due for release in December 2022. Zubairi features alongside Nicola Walker and Paul McGann.

In May 2024, Zubairi starred in When the Mountains Meet, a stage show touring Scotland. In the last quarter of 2024, Zubairi appeared as Mr Krish in the play The Elephant in the Room, which was performed at Waterloo East Theatre, London.

On 14 February 2025, Zubairi was featured on "Hometown Pride" - a collaboration between the Thamesmead Community Choir and fellow Thamesmead-based artists J Cocoa, Kei the Artist and Jules. The track was funded by Arts Council England. The group had performed to an audience of more than 6000 on the main stage at Thamesmead Festival in Southmere Park in August 2024. From March 2025, Zubairi appeared as Hiroshi in the West End production of My Neighbour Totoro for a 34-week run, which was later extended to March 2026.

Acting credits Film Year Title Role Notes 2002 Between the Wars Video seller Short film 2008 Out of Milk Narrator How I Learned to Love Richard Here Max2015 Starship Goldfish Emby Voice only 2017 Tides Zooby Feature film; Also co-writer Sleep Santi Short film 2019 Strange Cities Are Familiar Theo 2021 Time Family William / Damien / Jesus

Television Year Title Role Notes 2001 Grange Hill Steve Jones 4 episodes in Series 24 Married/Unmarried Dance Recital Audience 2005 Will & Grace commercial idents Sponsored by Maltesers 2010 Holby City Harvey Posner 3 episodes 2012 Cuckoo John Episode: "The Wedding" 2015 Cucumber Max 3 episodes 2017 Silent Witness Jason Bradwell Series 20, "Covenants" Parts 1 and 2 2018 EastEnders Dr. Daniel Zainuddin Episode dated 8 November 2018 2020 #SketchPack Episode: "Light Bulb Moments"

Theatre Year Title Role Venue Notes 1997 Hansel & Gretel Montresor Theatre Royal Stratford East 2007 The Letter Wyndham's Theatre 2009 Skylarking Area 10, Peckham Also writer, director 2010 North Devon Festival Wolf Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011 Why The Lion Danced The Father Burmese DaysJohn Flory/U Po Kyin 59E59 Theaters, New York City 2012 You Me Bum Bum Train The MC Abduction From The SeraglioThe Pasha These Associations Associate Tate Modern Unbroken Line Dolah Ovalhouse Theatre 2016 A Doll's House Dr. Rank 2018 Witness for the Prosecution County Hall, London 2022 Diary of a Somebody Kenneth Williams Seven Dials Playhouse In The Weeds Kazumi Fujimoto Ustinov Studio Guy Fawkes Kit Wright York Theatre Royal 2024 When the Mountains Meet Scotland tour The Elephant in the Room Mr Krish Waterloo East Theatre 2025-2026 My Neighbour Totoro Hiroshi Gillian Lynne Theatre, RSC debut

Audiobooks

Music videos Year Artist Title Role 2014 Chrissie Hynde "Adding the Blue" Painter

Video games Year Title Role Notes 2010 James Bond 007: Blood Stone Additional voices Voiceover Just Cause 2Radio Announcer 2017 Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age Ryu / Additional Voices (English version) 2018 Vampyr Rakesh 2019 Total War: Three Kingdoms Cao Cao