Abdullah Afzal

Afzal was born on 8 February 1989 to Pakistani parents in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, England. His family originates from Rawalpindi in Pakistan. He has three older brothers, two older sisters and a younger half-brother. His native language spoken at home was Pothwari.^[1] He attended Abraham Moss High School in North Manchester.

Afzal trained for three years to be a hafiz.^[2][3]

In 2007, Afzal had his first acting role as a young student in a short film called Raamis (originally called Extraordinary Rendition).^[4][5] Between 2008 and 2011, he starred as Asif in two seasons of BBC Three sitcom Lunch Monkeys.^[1] Since 2012, he has portrayed the character of Amjad Malik in BBC One's Citizen Khan.^[5]

In February 2014, Afzal presented the Christmas comedy specials on BBC Asian Network.^[5] In July 2015, he performed stand-up at the Eid Special Comedy Night at The Comedy Store in London.^[6][7]

In July 2014, Afzal played two roles in BBC Radio 4's By a Young Officer: Churchill on the North West Frontier.^[8]

In 2017, he appeared as Jahid in the romantic comedy film Finding Fatimah.^[9]

In 2021, Afzal wrote, starred, and directed Cinder’aliyah, Britain’s first Muslim pantomime.^[10][11] The pantomime is due to tour again in 2022.^[12]

He works at Manchester Airport and Eden Boys' Leadership academy Manchester to supplement his acting career ,^[2][3] and lives in Manchester with his wife Uzma, who he married in 2015.^[13]