Amit Shah was born in North London in 1981. His parents were originally from Kenya and grandparents from Gujarat in India. His father is an accountant and mother a health-food shop manageress. He had never acted until he was cast as the lead in his school play at the age of 16. Amit went on to achieve a 2:1 degree in Drama at Staffordshire University and then went on to train at LAMDA in West London. In 2003 he was given permission by the Principal, Peter James to graduate early so that he could begin rehearsals for Bombay Dreams, a West-End musical produced by Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber and composed by AR Rahman. Amit continued to work in television and on stage and in 2006 he was offered a part in The Royal Hunt of the Sun at the National Theatre; the same part that Sir Derek Jacobi played in the original production in 1964. He stayed on at the National Theatre to perform three plays including The Alchemist on Sky 1, produced by Kudos due to air from 20th February 2014.
Selected at the age of 26 as one of the 50 Top British Actors by The Observer on Sunday (10th June 2007).
Read Drama at Staffordshire University and then trained as an actor at LAMDA in London.
In 2007 he received an Ian Charleson Award commendation for his performance as Abel Drugger in "The Alchemist" at The National Theatre, London.
He left drama school early in order to start rehearsals for "Bombay Dreams" in the West End but was still allowed to graduate.
He was born at Chase Farm Hospital on 26th April 1981.
Won 1st place in the Illinois State Fair Smile Contest.
Has an older brother who recently graduated Med School. Currently a first year Anesthesia Resident at a prestigious hospital in Chicago, IL.
Was pursuing a medical career at first and immediately realized he would be better at playing a doctor than being one.
Was well known for his short video skit Kanjus which was played in front of thousands during a cultural show in college.
His acting teacher sat down with him before the play was cast and offered him the most eccentric role in William Shakespeares play, A Midsummer Nights Dream. This was given to him because of the versatility of Puck and the ability to connect the audience with the play. Puck delivers one of his most memorable lines, and in turn, offers a meta-critical comment on both the play and on lovers in real life: "Lord, what fools these mortals be!".
His agent sent him on an audition for a major university commercial. One audition and two callbacks later he booked the job. Totally unaware of how big the production was going to be, this ended up being his first national commercial, print ad and radio spot.
(January 2008) Anupam Khers Acting School - Mumbai, India
(June 2009) Los Angeles, California
