Khalid Abdalla
Born	1980 (age 29–30) Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Khalid Abdalla (born 1980) is a British actor. He came to international prominence after starring in the 2006 Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning United 93. Written and directed by Paul Greengrass, it chronicles events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked during the September 11, 2001 U.S. attacks. Abdalla plays Ziad Jarrah, the leader of the four hijackers on board the flight.

He is also on the board of the National Student Drama Festival.

[edit] Background

Abdalla was born in Glasgow, Scotland of Egyptian heritage, and raised in London, England.^[1][2]

He was educated at King's College School (in the same year group as actor Ben Barnes and comedian Tom Basden) and Cambridge University. He came to acting through his school's thriving drama scene, where his performances included the title role in Macbeth. In 1998, he directed a production of Someone Who'll Watch Over Me by Frank McGuinness, which ended up having a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival and earned five stars in The Scotsman newspaper,^[3] making him the youngest director to receive this accolade. He spent a gap year driving from Lebanon to Syria to the West Bank and Jordan. He returned to Palestine with the 2008 Palestine Festival of Literature - where he gave readings and took workshops with students.

Abdalla read English at Queens' College, Cambridge where he was a fixture on the student drama scene, with performances including the main roles in Othello, Britannicus, and Equus. He was a joint winner with Cressida Trew of the Judges' Award for Acting at the National Student Drama Festival for his performance in Bedbound by Enda Walsh. He later trained at Ecole Philippe Gaulier.

[edit] Career

In 2003 played the title role in Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great on the site of the Rose Theatre, the inaugural production of Peter Hall's Canon's Mouth Theatre Company composed of "young actors intent on discovering a new voice for the great metaphorical dramas of the Renaissance"^[4].

Abdalla's first screen role was in a 2005 episode of Spooks, entitled Infiltration of a New Threat.

After United 93 he played in the lead role of the film The Kite Runner. In preparation for that role, he spent a month in Kabul to learn Dari Persian and to learn to fly kites.^[5]

In 2008, he appeared as Guy Pringle in the Radio 4 adaptation of Fortunes of War. He is currently filming Green Zone with Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass.^[6]

[edit] Filmography

• United 93 - Ziad Jarrah, the leader of the four hijackers on board the flight.
• The Kite Runner - Amir as an adult.
• Green Zone^[6]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Khalid Abdalla at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Khalid Abdalla on IndieLondon
• My unwilling role in 9/11 hijack
• Khalid Abdalla Fan Site
• "Night Out With" Interview, NY Times, 30/12/07.
• 'My Acts of Defiance': 1/16/08 Interview about Imperial Life in the Emerald City (film) (aka "Green Zone"), The Kite Runner (film) and being a British-Egyptian actor