Kayvan Novak
Encyclopedia
Kayvan Novak is an award-winning British Iranian television
actor
and voice artist.
, Perfect Dark Zero
and Kameo. He also voiced various characters in the ITV
spoof sketch show Headcases
.
, medical drama Holby City
and spy series Spooks
. In 2005 he and Ed Tracy
created Fonejacker
, a prank call-based show as part of Comedy Lab for Channel 4
. After the pilot, he was given a Christmas special and a six-part series, which after a three month delay, began airing on 5 July 2007 on E4 and 7 September 2007 on Channel 4. His characters include an orphaned mouse; an electronics aficionado who seems to have no belief in initialisms; a swearing cockney
, bald car salesman; overweight
Chinese students trying to sell bootlegged
DVDs; a salesman who claims to work for companies with rude names; a salesman working for an India
n ISP and a Ugandan asking for bank account details, amongst many others.
On 27 November 2009, he appeared on the Channel 4 show Comedy Showcase
: The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret
, playing a Bomb Disposal Officer in a comedy sketch. Starting on 16 April 2010, Kayvan Novak appeared in a similar series to Fonejacker
called Facejacker
, in which he adopts various disguises, including several characters heard in Fonejacker. Novak filmed a scene for This Is England '86
which was cut from the final broadcast, but was available in the DVD extras. He was also one of the main characters in the television show entitled Sirens
, that began 27 June 2011 on Channel 4
in the UK. Novak also featured in an episode of Phone Shop
entitled "The First Temptation of Chris", portraying area manager Razz Prince.
In addition to acting, Novak has made appearances as himself on shows Soccer A.M, Kiss 100
, 8 out of 10 Cats
, Celebrity Big Brother's Little Brother and Talksport
.
alongside Matt Damon
and George Clooney
and most recently as Waj in the film Four Lions
by Chris Morris
for which he was awarded the Best Comedy Performance in a British Film award at the British Comedy Awards
in 2011, beating fellow actor Nigel Lindsay
for the same award in the same film. In 2008, he appeared in micro budget contemporary B-movie
The Blue Tower.
.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and voice artist.
Voice actor
Novak has provided voice work for three video games: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-RabbitWallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (video game)
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a video game developed by Frontier Developments and it is the first and only game in the series to be published by Konami. It was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles...
, Perfect Dark Zero
Perfect Dark Zero
Perfect Dark Zero is a first-person shooter video game developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game had a difficult development cycle, during which a substantial part of it was initially designed for the Nintendo GameCube...
and Kameo. He also voiced various characters in the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
spoof sketch show Headcases
Headcases
Headcases was an ITV satirical animation show based on current affairs. It employed the same satirical style as Spitting Image, 2DTV and Bo' Selecta! but using 3D animation created by UK Visual Effects and animation house Red Vision...
.
Television
Novak has initially appeared as an extra on various British shows: soap opera Family AffairsFamily Affairs
Family Affairs was a British soap opera broadcast on Five, from 1997 to 2005. It was the second programme to be broadcast on the channel on 30 March 1997, the channel's launch night...
, medical drama Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...
and spy series Spooks
Spooks
Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
. In 2005 he and Ed Tracy
Ed Tracy
Ed Tracy is a British television writer, director, and animator.He won a Bafta award for "best comedy television programme" in 2008 for his work on Fonejacker. He was nominated for a Bafta award for "best television comedy programme" in 2011 for his work on Facejacker.-External links:...
created Fonejacker
Fonejacker
Fonejacker is a British comedy programme broadcast on E4 featuring a series of prank calls involving a number of different characters performed by British Iranian television actor Kayvan Novak. It first appeared in May 2006, although it did not become a full series until 2007.The first series began...
, a prank call-based show as part of Comedy Lab for Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
. After the pilot, he was given a Christmas special and a six-part series, which after a three month delay, began airing on 5 July 2007 on E4 and 7 September 2007 on Channel 4. His characters include an orphaned mouse; an electronics aficionado who seems to have no belief in initialisms; a swearing cockney
Cockney
The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
, bald car salesman; overweight
Overweight
Overweight is generally defined as having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is a common condition, especially where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary...
Chinese students trying to sell bootlegged
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
DVDs; a salesman who claims to work for companies with rude names; a salesman working for an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n ISP and a Ugandan asking for bank account details, amongst many others.
On 27 November 2009, he appeared on the Channel 4 show Comedy Showcase
Comedy Showcase
Comedy Showcase is a series of one-off comedy specials featuring some of Britain's fledgling comedy talent. Its format is reminiscent of the much earlier Comedy Playhouse....
: The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret is an American-British sitcom starring David Cross, Sharon Horgan, Blake Harrison, Will Arnett and Spike Jonze...
, playing a Bomb Disposal Officer in a comedy sketch. Starting on 16 April 2010, Kayvan Novak appeared in a similar series to Fonejacker
Fonejacker
Fonejacker is a British comedy programme broadcast on E4 featuring a series of prank calls involving a number of different characters performed by British Iranian television actor Kayvan Novak. It first appeared in May 2006, although it did not become a full series until 2007.The first series began...
called Facejacker
Facejacker
Facejacker is a Channel 4 comedy series which started on 16 April 2010. It follows the similar show Fonejacker. Kayvan Novak adopts various disguises , including several characters heard in Fonejacker...
, in which he adopts various disguises, including several characters heard in Fonejacker. Novak filmed a scene for This Is England '86
This Is England '86
This Is England '86 is a 2010 British drama series written by Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne. A spin-off from the 2006 film This Is England, and set three years later, it focuses on the mod revival scene rather than the skinhead subculture...
which was cut from the final broadcast, but was available in the DVD extras. He was also one of the main characters in the television show entitled Sirens
Sirens (UK TV series)
Sirens is a British comedy-drama about an ambulance service team broadcast on Channel 4. It was first screened on 27 June 2011.The series is based on the book Blood, Sweat & Tea by Brian Kellett. The series is filmed predominantly in Leeds with some filmed in the surrounding areas...
, that began 27 June 2011 on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
in the UK. Novak also featured in an episode of Phone Shop
PhoneShop
PhoneShop is a British sitcom first broadcast on Channel 4 as a television pilot on 13 November 2009, as part of the channel's Comedy Showcase season of comedy pilots. This was followed by a six-episode series on E4 that started on 7 October 2010...
entitled "The First Temptation of Chris", portraying area manager Razz Prince.
In addition to acting, Novak has made appearances as himself on shows Soccer A.M, Kiss 100
Kiss 100 London
Kiss is a UK radio station broadcasting on FM and Digital Radio, specialising in hip hop, R&B, urban and electronic dance music. It also broadcasts on DAB Digital Radio around the UK & nationally on Freeview, Sky and TalkTalk TV...
, 8 out of 10 Cats
8 Out of 10 Cats
8 out of 10 Cats is a television comedy panel game made by Zeppotron for Channel 4. It was first broadcast on 3 June 2005. The show is based on statistics and opinion polls, and draws on polls produced by a variety of organizations and new polls commissioned for the programme, carried out by...
, Celebrity Big Brother's Little Brother and Talksport
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
.
Film
Novak has appeared as an intelligence officer in the Academy Award-winning film SyrianaSyriana
Syriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, and executive produced by George Clooney, who also stars in the film with an ensemble cast. Gaghan's screenplay is loosely adapted from Robert Baer's memoir See No Evil...
alongside Matt Damon
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige "Matt" Damon is an American actor, screenwriter, and philanthropist whose career was launched following the success of the film Good Will Hunting , from a screenplay he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck...
and George Clooney
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...
and most recently as Waj in the film Four Lions
Four Lions
Four Lions is a 2010 British satirical comedy film. It is the debut feature from director Chris Morris, written by Morris, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong. The film is a jihad satire following a group of homegrown Islamist terrorist jihadis from Sheffield, England.-Plot:A group of young Muslim men...
by Chris Morris
Chris Morris (satirist)
Christopher Morris is an English satirist, writer, director and actor. A former radio DJ, he is best known for anchoring the spoof news and current affairs television programmes The Day Today and Brass Eye, as well as his frequent engagement with controversial subject matter.In 2010 Morris...
for which he was awarded the Best Comedy Performance in a British Film award at the British Comedy Awards
British Comedy Awards
The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.-History:...
in 2011, beating fellow actor Nigel Lindsay
Nigel Lindsay
Nigel Lindsay is an English actor. He was nominated for Best British Comedy Performance in Film at the 2011 British Comedy Awards for his performance as Barry, the Muslim convert in Chris Morris's BAFTA winning Four Lions and won the 2011 Whatsonstage Award for Best Supporting Actor as Dr Harry...
for the same award in the same film. In 2008, he appeared in micro budget contemporary B-movie
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
The Blue Tower.
Personal life
Novak is a fan of Liverpool FC. He was privately educated at Highgate SchoolHighgate School
-Notable members of staff and governing body:* John Ireton, brother of Henry Ireton, Cromwellian General* 1st Earl of Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice, owner of Kenwood, noted for judgment finding contracts for slavery unenforceable in English law* T. S...
.