# Jamie Zubairi

Jamie Zubairi (born 1972) is an English-Malaysian actor, writer and artist. He started his acting career working on the BBC television series Grange Hill and has appeared on numerous television shows since. Zubairi is best known for his work on television in Cucumber and Holby City, on radio as Inspector Chen in Qiu Xiaolong's Inspector Chen detective series, as well as being a prolific stage performer and writer. In 2021, Zubairi appeared as Dorje Lingpa in the seventh series of Doctor Who: The Early Adventures.

## Early life and education

Jamie Zubairi was born in Aldershot, England in 1972 to an English mother and a Malaysian father. From 1973, Zubairi was brought up in Klang, Malaysia, but returned to England in his teenage years. Zubairi was educated at Rutland Sixth Form College and then studied Art Foundation at the De Montfort University in Leicester, England. Zubairi trained to be an actor at LAMDA, graduating in 1997.

## Career

Zubairi has performed in many stage productions. In 2010, he wrote and starred in Skylarking at the North Devon Festival and appeared in Wolf at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The next year, Zubairi played the father in Yellow Earth's Why The Lion Danced and made his New York stage debut at the 59E59 Theaters in George Orwell's Burmese Days. In 2012, he performed in You Me Bum Bum Train, Mozart's Abduction From The Seraglio, These Associations at Tate Modern by Tino Sehgal and performed his one-man mixed-media project Unbroken Line at the Oval House Theatre. In 2014 Zubairi co-wrote, co-produced and performed in Expectations. He has appeared as Dr. Rank in A Doll's House and in Parliament Square at the Royal Exchange Theatre.
In 2015, Zubairi appeared as Max in three episodes of Russell T Davies' Cucumber. In 2017, the feature film Tides was released. It stars Zubairi, but is notable for also being his first screenwriting credit. Tides had its World Premiere at the BFI London Film Festival and released nationwide in 2018. In 2018, Zubairi appeared in Witness for the Prosecution at County Hall, London.
In March 2022, Zubairi starred as Kenneth Williams in Diary of a Somebody, which was performed at the Seven Dials Playhouse, London. In June 2022, Zubairi starred as Kuzinov in In The Weeds. The play, set on a Hebridean island, was performed at the Ustinov Studio in Bath and rated 3/5 stars by The Stage. In November 2022, Zubairi appeared in the play Guy Fawkes as Kit Wright, performing at the York Theatre Royal. Jessie Burchett, writing for The Yorker praised Zubairi, writing that he "inject[ed] a welcome dose of pantomime energy".
Zubairi starred as Three and Petko in the BBC audiobook for Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Connections, due for release in December 2022. Zubairi features alongside Nicola Walker and Paul McGann.

## Acting credits
### Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2001 | Grange Hill | Steve Jones | 4 episodes in Series 24 |
| 2001 | Married/Unmarried | Dance Recital Audience | |
| 2002 | Between the Wars | Video seller | Short film |
| 2005 | Will & Grace commercial idents | | Sponsored by Maltesers |
| 2008 | Out of Milk | Narrator | Short film |
| 2008 | How I Learned to Love Richard Here | Max |
| 2010 | Holby City | Harvey Posner | 3 episodes |
| 2012 | Cuckoo | John | Episode: "The Wedding" |
| 2015 | Cucumber | Max | 3 episodes |
| 2015 | Starship Goldfish | Emby | Voice only |
| 2017 | Tides | Zooby | Feature film; Also co-writer |
| 2017 | Sleep | Santi | Short film |
| 2017 | Silent Witness | Jason Bradwell | 2 episodes |
| 2018 | EastEnders | Dr. Daniel Zainuddin | Episode dated 8 November 2018 |
| 2019 | Strange Cities Are Familiar | Theo | Short film |
| 2020 | #SketchPack | | Episode: "Light Bulb Moments" |
| 2021 | Time Family | William / Damien / Jesus | Short film |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Venue | Notes |
| 1997 | Hansel & Gretel | Montresor | Theatre Royal Stratford East | |
| 2007 | The Letter | | Wyndham's Theatre | |
| 2009 | Skylarking | | Area 10, Peckham | Also writer, director |
| 2010 | Skylarking | | North Devon Festival | Also writer, director |
| 2010 | Wolf | | Edinburgh Festival Fringe | |
| 2011 | Why The Lion Danced | The Father | | |
| 2011 | Burmese Days | John Flory/U Po Kyin | 59e59 Theaters, NYC | |
| 2012 | You Me Bum Bum Train | The MC | | |
| 2012 | Abduction From The Seraglio | The Pasha | | |
| 2012 | These Associations | Associate | Tate Modern | |
| 2012 | Unbroken Line | Dolah | Ovalhouse Theatre | |
| 2016 | A Doll's House | Dr. Rank | | |
| 2018 | Witness for the Prosecution | | County Hall, London | |
| 2022 | Diary of a Somebody | Kenneth Williams | Seven Dials Playhouse | |
| 2022 | In The Weeds | Kazumi Fujimoto | Ustinov Studio | |
| 2022 | Guy Fawkes | Kit Wright | York Theatre Royal | |

### Audiobooks

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2018 | Inspector Chen Mysteries | Inspector Chen | Voiceover |
| 2021 | Doctor Who: The Early Adventures | Dorje Lingpa | Voiceover |
| 2022 | Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Connections | Three/Petko | Voiceover |

### Music videos

| Year | Artist | Title | Role |
| 2014 | Chrissie Hynde | "Adding the Blue" | Painter |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2010 | James Bond 007: Blood Stone | Additional voices | Voiceover |
| 2010 | Just Cause 2 | Radio Announcer | Voiceover |
| 2017 | Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age | Ryu / Additional Voices (English version) | Voiceover |
| 2018 | Vampyr | Rakesh | Voiceover |
| 2019 | Total War: Three Kingdoms | Cao Cao | Voiceover |