Amit Shah

Amit Shah was born in North London in 1981. His parents were originally from Kenya and grandparents from Gujarat in India. His father is an accountant and mother a health-food shop manageress. He had never acted until he was cast as the lead in his school play at the age of 16. Amit went on to achieve a 2:1 degree in Drama at Staffordshire University and then went on to train at LAMDA in West London. In 2003 he was given permission by the Principal, Peter James to graduate early so that he could begin rehearsals for Bombay Dreams, a West-End musical produced by Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber and composed by AR Rahman. Amit continued to work in television and on stage and in 2006 he was offered a part in The Royal Hunt of the Sun at the National Theatre; the same part that Sir Derek Jacobi played in the original production in 1964. He stayed on at the National Theatre to perform three plays including The Alchemist (directed by Sir Nicholas Hytner) for which he was nominated for an Ian Cha