# Vincent Ebrahim

Vincent Ebrahim (born 1949) is a South African actor and comedian. He is known for portraying the roles of Ashwin in the BBC later Sky One comedy series The Kumars at No. 42 (2001–2006, 2014), pub landlord Bobby in the BBC One comedy series After You've Gone (2007–2008), Robert "Big Bob" Gupta in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks (2014) and Hashim Elamin in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2021).

## Early life

Ebrahim studied drama at the University of Cape Town. He immigrated to England in 1976, where he began an acting career. He is the brother of actress Vinette Ebrahim.

## Career

Ebrahim spent a decade with community theatre companies performing in plays such as Away From It by the Common Stock Theatre Company, Borderline by Hanif Kureishi and the Joint Stock Theatre Company and infamous stage play Tartuffe. Since 1990, he has worked with Tara Arts, performing in such plays as Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Tartuffe, Oedipus Rex, Troilus and Cressida, and Antigone. He has also performed in many radio plays for BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4 in the UK. He also appeared on stage at the Tricycle Theatre in the critically praised play The Great Game. Ebrahim is probably best known for playing Ashwin Kumar, the finance-obsessed father on The Kumars at No. 42. In March 2013, he won the Safta for Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film for his work in Material, which won the best film award.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1976 | Springbok | James Louw | Film |
| 2001–2006 | The Kumars at No. 42 | Ashwin Kumar | All 53 episodes |
| 2002 | Comedy Lab | Nitin's Dad | Episode: "Meet the Magoons" |
| 2003 | Top of the Pops | Ashwin Kumar | 1 episode |
| 2003 | Comic Relief 2003: The Big Hair Do (TV Special) | Ashwin Kumar | Charity special |
| 2003 | Clocking Off | Mehmood Usmani | Episode: "Grace and Faz's Story" |
| 2003 | Holby City | Habib Massoud | Episode: "A Friend in Need" |
| 2003 | Doctors | Ashok Sharma | Episode: "Cut Loose" |
| 2003 | Children in Need | Ashwin Kumar | Series 1: Episode 24 |
| 2003 | Bedtime | Mohammad | 3 episodes |
| 2005 | Meet the Magoons | Nitin's dad | 4 episodes |
| 2005 | Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit | Mr. Caliche | Film; voice role |
| 2006 | Ideal | Mr Rupani | Episodes: "The Landlord" and "The Guest" |
| 2006 | New Street Law | Sonny Mehta | Series 1: Episode 5 |
| 2007–2008 | After You've Gone | Bobby | All 25 episodes |
| 2007 | Doctors | Mohammed Abbasi | Episode: "Losing It All" |
| 2008 | The Life Class | Vaslav | Short |
| 2008 | Ruby xx Jack | Narrator | Short |
| 2009 | Compulsion | Satvik | Film |
| 2010 | The Old Guys | Rajan | 6 episodes |
| 2010 | Hotel Trubble | Dave | Episode: "Fangs for the Memories" |
| 2011 | Little Crackers | Uncle Arun | Episode: "Sanjeev Bhaskar's Little Cracker: Papaji Saves Christmas" |
| 2011 | Lazy Uncle | Uncle Arun | Short |
| 2012 | Material | Ebrahim Kaif | Film |
| 2013 | Doctors | Shiva Shandar | Episode: "One Got Away" |
| 2013 | The Physician | Tughrul | Film |
| 2014 | The Kumars | Ashwin Kumar | All 6 episodes' |
| 2014 | Hollyoaks | Robert "Big Bob" Gupta | Recurring role; 7 episodes |
| 2016 | Hoff the Record | Uncle Ron | Episode: "Death Hoax" |
| 2016 | Casualty | Saeed Sarwar | Episode: "Chain Reaction" |
| 2016 | Allied | Driver in Desert | Film |
| 2018 | The Looming Tower | Wadih el-Hage | Episode: "Now it Begins..." |
| 2018 | Happy New Year, Colin Burstead | Nikhil | Film |
| 2018 | The Queen and I | Judge | Television film |
| 2020 | Killing Eve | Mike | Episode: "End of Game" |
| 2020 | New Material | Ebrahim Kaif | Film |
| 2020 | National Theatre Live: Dara | Emperor Shah Jahan | Video |
| 2021 | Coronation Street | Hashim Elamin | Recurring role |