# Ray Panthaki

Ray Panthaki (/pənˈθɑːki/; born 20 January 1979) is a British actor, producer, screenwriter and director best known for the roles he played in Marcella (2016–2020), Away (2020), and the movie Boiling Point (2021), for which he was nominated for the 2021 BIFA for Best Supporting Actor.
Other credits include Tube Tales (1999), Ali G Indahouse (2002), 28 Days Later (2002), Bollywood Queen (2003), Kidulthood (2006), Provoked (2006), Convenience (2013), It's a Wonderful Afterlife (2010), Screwed (2011), Interview with a Hitman (2012), Convenience (2013), Colette (2018), Official Secrets (2019), Gangs of London (2020), and The Serpent Queen (2022).

## Early life

Panthaki was born in London to second-generation Indian parents. His parents belong to India's Parsi minority community.

## Career

Panthaki is best known for the roles he played on ITV and Netflix series Marcella and Netflix series Away alongside Hilary Swank. He appeared as Hassan B in Sacha Baron Cohen's Ali G Indahouse. He appeared in the films Colette, 28 Days Later, Official Secrets, Convenience, Tube Tales, Provoked, Interview with a Hitman, It's a Wonderful Afterlife, and the 2006 film Kidulthood which he also produced.
In 2006, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Play at the TMA Theatre Awards for his role in Gladiator Games. Later that year, he set up the London-based production company Urban Way. Panthaki made his West End theatrical debut in July 2008 in the play In My Name at the Trafalgar Studios. He has performed twice at the Royal Court Theatre in London in Where Do We Live by Christopher Shinn and The Westbridge by Rachel De-Lehay. He went on to play a leading role in Tanika Gupta's The Empress for the Royal Shakespeare Company directed by Emma Rice.
In 2013, Panthaki's directorial debut Life Sentence, a film which he also wrote, won Best UK Short at the East End Film Festival 2013. In 2013, Panthaki produced and starred in the comedy film Convenience starring alongside Vicky McClure and Adeel Akhtar. The film's director Keri Collins won Best Breakthrough at the 2014 BAFTA Cymru for his work on the film.
In 2014, he was announced as one of 18 BAFTA Breakthrough Brits a celebration of Britain's stars of tomorrow alongside fellow actors Stacy Martin, Katie Leung and Callum Turner. In 2016, Panthaki was cast as DCI Rav Sangha in Hans Rosenfeldt's Nordic noir detective series Marcella.
In 2017, it was announced that Panthaki had signed on to Wash Westmoreland's Colette, a biopic about the French novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, to play real-life French playwright Pierre Veber. Panthaki attended the world premier at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival alongside co-stars Keira Knightley and Dominic West, where the film received positive reviews.
In 2020, Panthaki appeared in the Netflix series Away, alongside Hilary Swank, as Group Captain Ram Arya, second in command on a mission to Mars.
At the British Independent Film Awards 2021, Panthaki was nominated for the BIFA for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Freeman in Boiling Point alongside Stephen Graham.

## Filmography

Key :
| † | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1998 | The Bill | Charlie | Episode: "Taking Sides" |
| 1999 | Jump Boy | Shamil | Short film |
| 1999 | Tube Tales | Mo | Segment: "Grasshopper" |
| 2000 | Losing It | Ray | Television film |
| 2001 | The Armando Iannucci Shows | | Episode: "Communication" |
| 2001 | My Family | Gary | Episode: "Trust Never Sleeps" |
| 2002 | Blood Strangers | Zafar Wahid | Television film |
| 2002 | Ali G Indahouse | Hassan B | |
| 2002 | Spooks | Chalak Ahmed | Episode: "One Last Dance"; uncredited |
| 2002 | Licks | Pizza man | Short film; also co-producer |
| 2002 | 28 Days Later | Private Bedford | |
| 2003 | Bollywood Queen | Anil | |
| 2003 | Rehab | Naz | Television film |
| 2003 | Doctors | Duncan Marks | Episode: "Donations" |
| 2003–2005 | EastEnders | Ronny | 158 episodes |
| 2005 | Blessed | Lance | 8 episodes |
| 2006 | Kidulthood | Mark | Also co-producer |
| 2006 | Provoked | Ravi | |
| 2006 | Strictly Confidential | Ali | Series 1 Episode 3 |
| 2007 | Veils | Samir | Short film |
| 2007 | The Feral Generation | Vincent | Also producer |
| 2009 | City Rats | Dean | Also executive producer |
| 2010 | It's a Wonderful Afterlife | Jazz Sethi | |
| 2011 | Screwed | Neil | |
| 2012 | Interview with a Hitman | Franco | |
| 2012 | The Man Inside | Bose | Also executive producer |
| 2013 | Jadoo | | |
| 2013 | Life of Crime | DS Nabeel Kothari | Episode: "1997" |
| 2013 | Convenience | Ajay | Also producer |
| 2014 | DCI Banks | Jeff Kitson | Episodes: "Bad Boy Parts 1 & 2" |
| 2014 | Cryptic | Cochise | |
| 2014 | The Wrong Mans | Khalil | 2 episodes |
| 2015 | World War Dead: Rise of the Fallen | Marcus | |
| 2015 | Crackanory | Nasim | |
| 2016 | One Crazy Thing | Jay Veer | Also producer |
| 2016 | Oysters Have Feelings Too | Jay | Short film |
| 2016 | Ghosted | Paul | Short film |
| 2016–2020 | Marcella | DI/DCI Rav Sangha | 24 episodes |
| 2018 | Colette | Veber | |
| 2019 | Official Secrets | Kamal Ahmed | |
| 2020 | Dreams | Dreams architect | Video game voice only |
| 2020 | Gangs of London | Jevan Kapadia | 8 episodes |
| 2020 | Away | Ram Arya | 10 episodes |
| 2020 | Ernie | | Writer and producer |
| 2021 | SAS: Red Notice | Prime Minister Atwood | |
| 2021 | Boiling Point | Freeman | Also executive producer |
| 2022 | The Serpent Queen | Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine | |
| 2023 | Bonus Track | Mr. Zeppelin | |
| 2023 | Boiling Point | Freeman | BBC television series |
| TBA | Fortunate Sons † | | |