Jan Uddin

Early and personal life

Uddin was born in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, England. He moved to London at the age of 19 and then trained to become an actor at the Academy Drama School. In July 2010, Uddin revealed that his father used to beat him viciously, refused to let him watch TV or read books, and one night dragged his family back to Bangladesh. Of this Uddin said, “he just shoved us in a van, and next thing we knew we were no longer living in Birmingham but in Bangladesh. For a whole year, we all had a horrible time because he told us we were never coming back to England.” Uddin further revealed that he had been involved with gangs, and that his mother is battling cancer for the fifth time.

Career

In 2007, Uddin was twice credited as Jan Dean when appearing in acting roles, for Casualty and in the film Famous Last Words. In 2008, Uddin appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders as Jalil Iqbal, a love interest for Shabnam Masood (Zahra Ahmadi). His character first appears on 17 March and departs on 28 March. Uddin states: “I used to come to work and have crumpets with Barbara Windsor every morning which was brilliant as I used to have a crush on her too, I was all coy and pretended to be all harmless and she would pinch my cheeks and I would think ‘yeah, go on!’

In 2009, Uddin appeared in a film called Boogie Woogie alongside Gillian Anderson, Heather Graham and Amanda Seyfried. Of his experience of working with Anderson, he said, “That was amazing. I used to fancy Gillian Anderson when I was a little boy and then I found myself stark naked next to her!” He also recounted, “Heather [Graham]’s trailer was next to mine so we used to have breakfast together everyday.” Uddin also appeared in the 2010 film Shank, in which he plays Sweet Boy. The film is about how there is a food shortage in the future, and how everyone tries to survive. He appears alongside Kaya Scodelario, and said about working with her, “She’s easy on the eye! When I think of Shank I think of hanging out with the boys as we were together more. So when Kaya and the girls came on set for their scenes it was always a treat…it was like throwing scraps of food to some wild animals!” In 2011, he starred in the French film Black Gold, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starring Freida Pinto, Antonio Banderas and Mark Strong. Other roles have included Casualty, Injustice and The Bill.

Filmography