Riaad Moosa

Riaad Moosa (; born 18 June 1977) is a South African comedian, actor and doctor.

Early life Moosa grew up in Grassy Park and has three siblings. He attended South Peninsula High School until 1994. His sister is a doctor, his Indian-born father is an orthopaedic surgeon, his Cape Town-born Malay mother is a GP. Since he was a child, he wanted to do medicine.

Moosa spent three years training in magic and he was presented with the Comedy Magic award at the Center for the Magical Arts in Cape Town. His future in magic was terminated when somebody doing flash photography illuminated the wire across the stage where his magic orb was floating. He then worked for three years as a doctor.

Stand-up career Moosa started doing stand-up on campus during his fourth year at University of Cape Town. In 2000, he came to prominence on the comedy-club circuit in Cape Town. Moosa had a schedule of sold-out one-man show runs like Strictly Halaal and Riaad Moosa for the Baracka in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town during its first run. Both shows prompted extended runs until May 2007, and were also released on DVD. In 2006, Moosa also appeared in the Heavyweight Comedy Jam in London. He was also featured at corporate events and media engagements.

In 2007, Riaad toured South Africa with the American Muslim comedy troupe, Allah Made Me Funny, doing the Make Love Not War show. South African Muslim comedian Halal Bilal performed with them on this, his first big tour since he started performing with Riaad a month before.

In 2008, Riaad appeared alongside Marc Lottering and Nik Rabinowitz, in the variety comedy show 3 Wise Men, directed by David Kramer.

In November 2012, he performed Keeping You in Stitches comedy show at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

In October 2013, he started his Doctor's Orders tour in South Africa.

Moosa took part in South African national comedy tour, Just Funny Festival, where he hosted Azhar Usman, Mo Amer and Preacher Moss (Allah Made Me Funny).

In January and February 2013, Moosa performed at the Baxter Theatre with a show called What's Next. Later in the year, he went on his "Doctor's Orders Tour" throughout South Africa, Africa and the United Kingdom.

Television career Moosa is a regular presenter of a segment entitled The Second Opinion – with Dr Riaad Moosa on the E-News channel's satirical news programme Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola. He has appeared in various TV and film productions. In June 2013, he replaced Michael Mol on hosting SABC 3's The Dr Mol Show (originally titled Hello Doctor). The show was subsequently renamed Doctor's Orders.

Acting career In 2005, Moosa appeared in Crazy Monkey Straight Outta Benoni. Moosa starred in the comedy film Material, playing a young man who wants to be a comedian but his father disapproves.

In October 2012, he went to the Busan International Film Festival in Seoul, South Korea where Material was shown, In November 2012, Moosa visited London, England to promote the film at the BFI London Film Festival. In 2013, he will be going to the Asian Film Festival in Goa.

In 2013, he played the role of former South African politician and political prisoner, Ahmed Kathrada in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, an adaptation of Nelson Mandela's autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.

Comedy style Moosa uses comedy to tackle sensitive issues like Islamic stereotypes, In 2012, he was nominated for the Comic's Choice Awards. He won best actor at The South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTA's) in 2013 for his role in Material which also won best picture.

Personal life On 12 January 2003, Moosa married businesswoman Farzanah Bemat. They live in Johannesburg, Gauteng with their three children, Zameer (born 2007) and Hanaa (born 2009). and Mahir. Some of Moosa's comic material is inspired by his family.