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Jamie Zubairi

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Jamie Zubairi
Born1972
Aldershot, England
NationalityEnglish-Malaysian
Education
Occupation(s)Actor, writer, artist
Years active1997–present
WebsiteOfficial website

Jamie Zubairi (born 1972) is an English-Malaysian actor, writer and artist. He started his acting career working on the BBC television series Grange Hill[citation needed] and has appeared on numerous television shows including Cucumber[1] and Holby City,[2][3] 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

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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,[4] 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.[citation needed]

Career

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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.[citation needed] 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.[5][6] 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.[7] 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.[8]

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.[9] In 2018, Zubairi appeared in Witness for the Prosecution at County Hall, London.[10]

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[11] in Diary of a Somebody,[12][13] which was performed at the Seven Dials Playhouse, London.[14] 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.[15] In November 2022, Zubairi appeared in the play Guy Fawkes as Kit Wright,[16] 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".[17]

Zubairi starred as Three and Petko in the BBC audiobook for Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Connections, due for release in December 2022.[18] Zubairi features alongside Nicola Walker and Paul McGann.[19]

In May 2024, Zubairi starred in When the Mountains Meet, a stage show touring Scotland.[20] 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.[21][22]

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.[23] 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.[24][25]

Acting credits

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2002 Between the Wars Video seller Short film
2008 Out of Milk Narrator
How I Learned to Love Richard Here Max
2015 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

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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

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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 Days John Flory/U Po Kyin 59E59 Theaters, New York City
2012 You Me Bum Bum Train The MC
Abduction From The Seraglio The 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 My Neighbour Totoro Hiroshi Gillian Lynne Theatre,[26] RSC debut

Audiobooks

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Year Title Role Notes
2018 Inspector Chen Mysteries Inspector Chen Voiceover
2021 Doctor Who: The Early Adventures Dorje Lingpa Voiceover
2022 Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Connections Three/Petko [18] Voiceover
2024 The Death and Life of River Song Peevy / Com-Tech 2 4 episodes

Music videos

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

Video games

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Year Title Role Notes
2010 James Bond 007: Blood Stone Additional voices Voiceover
Just Cause 2 Radio 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

References

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  1. ^ "Jamie Zubairi Showreel 2023". YouTube. 28 May 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
  2. ^ "Thursdays Child (2010)". IMDb. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
  3. ^ "Holby City - Revelations - Series 12 Episode 54 of 55". BBC. 11 October 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
  4. ^ Othman, Zaharah (6 January 2019). "Postcard from Zaharah: Half-Asian boy's acting odyssey". New Straits Times. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  5. ^ Hetrick, Adam (16 November 2011). "World Premiere of George Orwell's Burmese Days Opens Off-Broadway Nov. 16". Playbill. Retrieved 15 May 2025.
  6. ^ Grode, Eric (16 November 2011). "Old Times, Not Necessarily Good Times". New York Times. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  7. ^ Janes, Daniel (10 December 2012). "REVIEW: UNBROKEN LINE". A Younger Theatre. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  8. ^ Stollhans, Sascha (22 October 2017). "The Manchester Review - Parliament Square, Royal Exchange Theatre, reviewed by Sascha Stollhans". The Manchester Review. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  9. ^ "Tides (2018)". BFI. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  10. ^ Wild, Stephi (9 October 2018). "WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION Celebrates A Killer First Year And Announces New Cast". Broadway World. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  11. ^ "First Look: Diary of a Somebody at Seven Dials Playhouse in Rehearsal". Theatre Weekly. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 17 April 2022.
  12. ^ Gilbey, Ryan (31 March 2022). "Diary of a Somebody review – stunning drama from Joe Orton's journal". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  13. ^ "Diary of a Somebody (Closed April 30, 2022) | Off-West End | reviews, cast and info". Whatsonstage.com.
  14. ^ Hutera, Donald (31 March 2022). "Diary of a Somebody review — the uproarious, scandalous life of Joe Orton". The Times. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  15. ^ Waugh, Rosemary (10 June 2022). "In the Weeds review". The Stage. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
  16. ^ Rogers, Rachel (27 October 2022). "A 'dynamite' new comedy about an infamous York figure is set to explode onto the stage". York Mix. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  17. ^ Burchett, Jessie. "Review: Guy Fawkes at York Theatre Royal". The Yorker. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  18. ^ a b "Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Connections - Doctor Who - the Eighth Doctor Adventures". Bigfinish.com.
  19. ^ Hibbs, James (20 October 2022). "Radio Times". Radiotimes.com. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  20. ^ Quinn, W J (29 April 2024). "Review: When Mountains Meet – Edinburgh". The Quintessential Review. Retrieved 15 May 2025.
  21. ^ Ward, Simon (12 October 2024). "What if there really IS an elephant in the room?". The Peg Review. Retrieved 15 May 2025.
  22. ^ Holland, Michael (14 October 2024). "Review: The Elephant in the Room – Waterloo East Theatre". South London. Retrieved 15 May 2025.
  23. ^ Lee, Claudia (13 February 2025). "'The Thamesmead anthem': Community choir release collaborative track". London News Online. Retrieved 15 May 2025.
  24. ^ Osmond, Andrew (23 March 2025). "My Neighbour Totoro London stage run extended to March 2026". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 25 March 2025. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
  25. ^ "My Neighbour Totoro: Full Cast Announced for West End Transfer". LW Theatres. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
  26. ^ Bakare, Lanre (23 April 2024). "Studio Ghibli's work 'like Shakespeare', says My Neighbour Totoro stage show's director". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 July 2025.
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