Ray Panthaki

Ray Panthaki is a British Actor, Producer, Writer and Award winning Director.
Born in London, Panthaki is best known for the roles he played on BBC soap opera EastEnders as Ronny Ferreira (2003-2005) and as Hassan B the nemesis to Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G in Ali G Indahouse. He also appeared in the hit British films 28 Days Later, Rehab, Tube Tales, Provoked, Interview with a Hitman, It's a Wonderful Afterlife and the 2006 cult film Kidulthood which he also produced. In 2006 he was nominated for "Best Supporting Actor in a Play" at the TMA Theatre Awards for his role in Gladiator Games, which was based on the highly-publicised true story of teenager Zahid Mubarek who was beaten to death by his racist cellmate in Feltham Young Offenders' Institution. Later that year he set up the London-based production company Urban Way. In 2013 he made his Royal Shakespeare Company debut as the lead in The Empress.
Career
Panthaki began his professional career in 1999 when he made his big screen début in Brit-flick Tube Tales working alongside Bob Hoskins, Jude Law, Ray Winstone and Ewan McGregor but it was after being cast as Hassan B the nemesis to Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G, in cult box office hit Ali G Indahouse, that Panthaki became known to audiences. He then swiftly went on to work with respected directors such as Danny Boyle in 28 Days Later, Antonia Bird in Rehab, Ben Elton on Blessed and Richard Wilson in the Olivier award winning play Where Do We Live. Always constantly pushing boundaries, Panthaki went on to discover, Co-Produce and star in the controversial hit Movie Kidulthood a project that he had been working on for over 4 years including throughout his time acting in Eastenders. It received critical acclaim and was nominated for two British Independent Film Awards in 2006: Best Achievement in Production and Best Debut Director - subsequently awarded with the latter. Later that year Panthaki set up his London based Production outfit Urban Way.
Now becoming known for tackling gritty projects in both his acting and producing, Panthaki lived homeless on the streets in preparation for his role as a homeless heroin addict in the controversial movie The Feral Generation, which was awarded Best UK Feature at the Swansea Film Festival 2008. Panthaki then went on to film a lead role in the multi-faceted and ensemble based City Rats alongside Susan Lynch produced by his company Urban Way. The film once again, kept Panthaki within his social-realism roots and brought him yet another commercial producing success. Around the same time Panthaki was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Play at the prestigious TMA Awards (an award previously picked up by Kevin Spacey and Sir Ian Mckellen) for his highly acclaimed performance in Gladiator Games which told the true story of Zahid Mubarek, a young British teenager who was killed by his racist cell mate in Feltham young offenders Institute. The play by Tanika Gupta opened at the Sheffield Crucible to stunning reviews before making it's way to Theatre Royal Stratford East. The play then came back to Stratford East a year later due to public demand.
After the success of Gladiator Games, it wasn't long before Panthaki made his West End theatrical debut in July 2008 in the hard hitting play In My Name at the Trafalgar Studios. Once again it was another gritty piece set on the day of the 7/7 bombings in London, the play opened to fantastic reviews with Ben Brantley from the New York Times stating "Acted with a bruising physicality rarely seen this side of an old Sam Shepard play, the performance of Ray Panthaki as Royal is truly charismatic and stunning".
After this run of theatre success, Panthaki then continued to cleverly balance the edgy Film roles with more mainstream commercial material. He starred in the films Provoked alongside Robbie Coltrane and Miranda Richardson, It's a Wonderful Afterlife alongside Sally Hawkins, Zoe Wanamaker and directed by Gurinder Chadha and Screwed alongside James Darcy and old friend Noel Clarke. Meanwhile, Urban Way continued to go from strength to strength as an edgy, forward thinking Production Company. In 2012 Panthaki's Producing credentials garnished more attention when he attracted BAFTA winners Peter Mullan and David Harewood to The Man Inside in which Panthaki also starred in. He then ended the year back at the Royal Court Theatre in the critically acclaimed The Westbridge by Rachel De-lahey.
It's 2013 in which Panthaki's star rose. He shot the lead in Convenience a new indie comedy in which he also produces and stars alongside BAFTA winner Vicky McClure, before swiftly embarking on a supporting lead in Life of Crime a new 3-part ITV Drama alongside Hayley Atwell. He then made his Royal Shakespeare Company Debut as the lead in The Empress directed by Emma Rice and written by Tanika Gupta. The play, about the relationship between Queen Victoria and Abdul Karim opened to four and five star reviews across the board and ticked another strong box for Panthaki's growing career.
Also in 2013 Panthaki's Directorial Debut Life Sentence a Film which he also wrote, won Best UK Short at the East End Film Festival 2013. The Film, a hard hitting account of the UK’s knife crime epidemic was also picked out by the British Film Institute as one of the top ten highlights of the recent London Film Festival. The film, which was written in memory of Ben Kinsella brother of Ray's former partner, actress Brooke Kinsella, has received a highly commendable response with one review quoting "Life Sentence, is what Touch of Evil would have looked like if Orson Welles had grown up in Hackney". The Film was shot by Pierre Aim, cinematographer of La Haine after Panthaki tracked him down in Paris and convinced him of his stylistic ideas.
Panthaki is currently shooting the lead in Cryptic alongside Ed Stoppard.

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