In his early career, Adeel Akhtar performed in a number of projects at Half Moon Theatre before moving onto a successful film and TV career. He is best known for his roles in the films Four Lions, Pan, Convenience and The Dictator. Two recent films are Hampstead and The Big Stick. Victoria and Abdul will be released in September. Adeel’s TV work includes Utopia (playing Wilson Wilson, for which he was nominated for both a BAFTA and Royal Television Society Award), River, Capital, The Night Manager and Murdered by My Father, for which he won the Leading Actor BAFTA Television Award.

Adeel became a patron of Half Moon Theatre in autumn 2016.

“I am delighted to be a patron for a company that I had the pleasure of working for in my early career including a role I undertook in a deeply effecting piece that was performed in schools unpacking transitioning from primary to secondary school. I applaud their unending and on-going championing of work with and for all children and young people regardless of their ethnic, religious and socio-economic backgrounds – providing access to the creative arts either with the idea of pursuing it as a career or for self-development”.