Aml Ameen

Aml Ameen
Ameen at Dinard British film festival (France), 2006
Born	Aml Eysan Ameen[1] (1985-07-30) 30 July 1985 Camden Town, London, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1990s-present
Website	www.amlameen.com

Aml Eysan Ameen (/əmɛl/; born July 30, 1985) is a British actor known for his roles as Trevor in Kidulthood, Lewis Hardy in The Bill, Malcolm in Harry's Law, Capheus in the first season of the Netflix series Sense8 and Alby in The Maze Runner.

Life and career

Ameen was born in London, to Jamaican and Vincentian parents.^[2] He learned his acting craft at the Barbara Speake Stage School, an independent school in London. As a child he appeared in West End in shows such as Oliver! and Jolson. At the age of 11 he performed on stage with Michael Jackson at the 1996 BRIT Awards, in a performance famously invaded by Pulp's singer Jarvis Cocker.^[2] Ameen's family is very important to him and consists of 7 siblings: Mikel, Aretha, Alysha, Nadina, Gisel, Jason, and Bilonce. Ameen's first acting role was in 2004's Bella and the Boys, in which he played the character Terry.^[3]

His next role was a one-off appearance in an episode of the BBC television series Holby City. He also starred in the British youth-centred film Kidulthood as the central character Trife and now he's starring again in Second Chance and Red Tails for a special appearance. He played PC Lewis Hardy in the long-running ITV police series The Bill, his most famous and popular role to date. Lewis Hardy is a headstrong character who has swapped his life as a street kid to try to make a difference on the right side of the law. He has a few problems with authority and regularly bumps heads with his seniors, most especially frequent beat partner PC Roger Valentine. After Hardy was put undercover and was shot, he was transferred to Operation Trident. In April 2008 he played a leading role in the BBC Three teen drama Dis/Connected, playing Anthony, an 18-year-old college student from London who faces gang trouble on the streets, as well as losing his friend when she commits suicide.^[4]

Ameen featured in a film on Channel 4 called Fallout, part of their Disarming Britain mini-season.^[5] The London Lite paper described this as his most memorable performance. Ameen featured as AJ in Silent Witness Series 12 Parts 1 and 2. He portrayed a youth worker trying to make a difference in the gang and knife community which presides South London, and became friends with Leo, one of the senior pathologists doing community service for drink driving.

In June 2008 Ameen began A.S.A (Actors Student Alliance) a drama school set up to discover and teach untapped talent in London. From its inception the school has gone on to producing a short film and a theatre showcase for its students. Now in its second year the school has expanded into a management company.^[6] Ameen performed at Tricycle Theatre on the Not Black and White season in October 2009. Described as "exceptionally charismatic Aml Ameen the freshest, most inspiring voice in the play by Time Out London. He received outstanding reviews in the National press. Ameen starred in Jason Barrett's British feature film The Naked Poet, where he played character Ryan for which he won best actor at the V.I.P.F awards in 2010 for his performance.

Ameen also starred in David E. Kelley's legal drama Harry's Law in the first season, which began to air on NBC during the 2011 television season.^[7]

Aml had his first Hollywood film role in George Lucas's Red Tails (2012), about the African American Tuskegee airman in World War II. Aml starred alongside Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Terrence Howard. He played Alby in the film adaptation of the young adult, science-fiction, dystopian novel, The Maze Runner, alongside Will Poulter, Dylan O'Brien, Kaya Scodelario and Thomas Sangster. The film was released in theaters in September 2014.

As of June 2015, Aml stars in the Netflix series Sense8 as one of the show's central characters. The show is produced by The Wachowskis, who famously created The Matrix. On 27th April 2016, Deadline reported that Ameen had quit the show, two episodes into filming for Season 2, with Toby Onwumere taking on the role of Capheus.^[8]

Recognition

He was named one of The Times newspaper's 'Ones To Watch' for 2006, and won 'Best actor in a TV performance' at the 2007 Screen Nation Awards. Additionally, he presented an award at the Mobo Awards 2006.

Filmography

References

External links

• Aml Ameen at the Internet Movie Database