Amrou Al-Kadhi

Amrou Al-Kadhi(born 23 June 1990) is aBritish-Iraqiwriter, actor,drag performer, andfilmmakerwhose work primarily focuses onqueeridentity, cultural representation andracial politics.
Al-Kadhi was born inLondonto a tight-knit conservativeIraqiMuslimfamily. They were brought up inDubaiandBahrain, before the family moved back toLondon.Al-Kadhi claims that discoveringmarine biologyandquantum physicshelped them understand theirqueeridentity.Al-Kadhi has a twin brother.
In 2006, Al-Kadhi was awarded a two-year scholarship toEton College, where they did their A-levels,then graduated from theUniversity of Cambridgewith a BA and MPhil in the History of Art.
Al-Kadhi's stage name is Glamrou. It was at the University of Cambridge that they discovered drag, organising events and becoming a "drag mother" to their fellow drag queens in the university's first professional drag band. While at Cambridge, they created and led the musical comedy drag troupe Denim,for which they co-wrote and performed in shows.More recently, they have left the troupe in order to concentrate on solo performance in a show calledGlamrou: From Quran to Queen.
Al-Kadhi's first acting role, at the age of fourteen, was inSteven Spielberg's filmMunich, where they played the role of an Islamic terrorist's son. They have commented that, as an Arab actor, they have been approached to play the role of a terrorist almost thirty times.
Al-Kadhi's feature directorial debutLayla, withFilm 4andFox Cub Films, premiered at the2024 Sundance Film Festival. They have another film in development titledOh, MollywithBBC FilmsandSarah Brocklehurst Productions.
In 2021, Al-Kadhi appeared in theSony's Spider-Man Universe(SSU) filmVenom: Let There Be Carnageas a temporary host of the aliensymbioteVenomafter he separates fromEddie Brock.
Al-Kadhi has three TV series in development: as writer and creator,Targets, with BBC Drama, as star, co-creator and co-writer,Nefertiti, a comedy series in development withBig Talk Productions, and as co-star, co-creator and co-writer,Beards, in development withPlayground Entertainment.
Al-Kadhi's autobiography,Life as a Unicorn: A Journey From Shame to Pride and Everything In Between, was published in 2019 and tells the story of their estrangement from and final reconciliation with their mother and Islam.In 2020, the autobiography won theSociety of Authors'Somerset Maugham Award.
They write a fortnightly opinion column forThe Independent, and a monthly column inGay Times.They have also contributed toGQ,The Guardian,Attitude,CNNandLittle White Lies.Al-Kadhi writes on topics ranging from queer identity andIslamophobiato the philosophy ofmarine biologyand film criticism.
In their memoir, Al-Kadhi describes how, at the age of thirteen, they developed a close identification with fish, which they call "warrior shape-shifters" in colourful clothing."That’s how I feel on the inside," reflected Al-Kadhi as they looked at a fish tank. "In my soul, I’m that colourful; my sexuality, my gender – it’s free-moving, like in the tank. Maybe my soul doesn’t have any boundaries?"However, by the time they turned fifteen, they "developed a physical and psychological aversion to the tank".After a particularly vivid dream, Al-Kadhi tried to capture the attention of a pair of clownfish, "but they were swimming along happily together – just another couple who had found love – and suddenly the tank made me feel lonelier than ever".As a result, Al-Kadhi stopped feeding the fish and refused to clean the tank.Al-Kadhi goes on to describe, in gleeful terms, the death of the fish at their hands:
In August 2022, Al-Kadhi wrote a column forThe Guardianbased on the fish incident.In it, they say that the sight of the fish "floating rigid on the surface" was "the final confirmation I needed – the tank no longer served me, and couldn’t be the heal-all balm I needed it to be".
Al-Kadhi identifies asqueerandnon-binary.
In June 2020, in honour of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQPride parade,Queertynamed Al-Kadhi among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people".In 2020 Al-Kadhi won thePolari First Book Prizefor their memoirLife as a Unicorn.