# Mahesh Jadu

Mahesh Jadu (born 26 October 1982) is an Australian actor. He is best known for the role of Dr. Doug Harris in the soap opera Neighbours and the role of Ahmad in Netflix original series Marco Polo. He also portrayed the supporting role of Shanmugum in the miniseries Better Man and Vilgefortz in The Witcher.

## Early life

Mahesh Jadu was born in Carlton, Victoria, Australia. His parents are from Mauritius and his Indo Mauritian ancestry originates from Kashmir. He was raised in Perth in Western Australia and spent his high school years in a cricket scholarship before he veered into film and television.

## Career

He started off as a composer for an Australian show, Byte Me. He auditioned for a small role in an Indian film, Sorry Bhai! and was subsequently cast. He was later cast in one of Australia's longest running soaps, Neighbours as Doug Harris. He played poker to cover rent and living expenses until he was called for an audition by the casting director, Lou Mitchell.
In 2011, he was cast in an Australian drama, Taj, which was presented at the 16th Busan International Film Festival.
He then worked on The Three Ages of Sasha. He got his big break when he was cast in Roland Joffé's periodic drama, Singularity, which was later renamed The Lovers. In 2015, he was cast in Netflix's Marco Polo as Ahmad Fanakati. and had a role in I, Frankenstein. In 2019 he played Vilgefortz of Roggeveen in the Netflix's TV series The Witcher.
He started a production company, Ākaasha Media, with producer Nikit Doshi and is slowly carving a path as a filmmaker also.

## Filmography

Film :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2008 | Sorry Bhai! | A Student | |
| 2008 | Two Fists, One Heart | Ringside Official | |
| 2011 | Taj | Vjay | Male lead |
| 2012 | The Three Ages of Sasha | Nasir Khan | Male lead |
| 2013 | Magnetism | Mark | Short |
| 2013 | The Lovers | The Assassin |
| 2014 | I, Frankenstein | Ophir | |
| 2015 | Judi Dench is Cool in Person | Mahesh | Short |
| 2017 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales | Spanish Soldier | |
| 2017 | Three Summers | Baktash | |
| 2019 | Submit Tweet | Critic | Short |
| 2020 | Emerald | Zal | Short |
| 2020 | The Furnace | Sadhu | |
| 2023 | It Only Takes a Night | Jeffrey D. Phillips | |
| TBA | Timur | Hussayn | Post-production |
| TBA | Honeymoon | Eric | Post-production |
| TBA | The Ice Road 2: Road to the Sky | Rudra Yash | Pre-production |
Television :
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2010–11 | Neighbours | Dr. Doug Harris | Season 26–27 (recurring, 33 episodes) |
| 2013 | Better Man | Shanmugum | Miniseries (1 episode) |
| 2014 | Winners & Losers | Evan Madawella | Season 3 (guest, 2 episodes) |
| 2014 | Sam Fox: Extreme Adventures | Raj | Season 1 (guest, 1 episode) |
| 2014 | Marco Polo | Ahmad | Season 1–2 (main cast, 20 episodes) |
| 2019– | The Witcher | Vilgefortz | Season 1–3 (main cast, 11 episodes) |
| 2024 | Home and Away | Nelson Giles | Season 37 (recurring role) |
Production credits :
| Year | Title | Notes |
| 2005 | Byte Me | Composer (TV series) |
| TBA | Topping Out | Producer (in production) |
| TBA | The Heretics | Producer (pre-production) |
| TBA | Kibo | Producer (in development) |