Kayvan Novak

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Kayvan Novak
کیوان نواک
Born (1978-11-23) 23 November 1978 (age 34)
Cricklewood, North London, England
Occupation Actor, voice artist, comedian
Years active 2002–present

Kayvan Novak (Persian: کیوان نوک‎, born 23 November 1978) is an Iranian-British[1] actor, voice artist,[2] and comedian. He is best known for creating and starring in the TV show Fonejacker from 2006 to 2007 and a one-off in 2012 (for which he won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Comedy Performance in 2007), creating and starring in the spin-off series Facejacker from 2010 to present, and his role as Waj in the 2010 British comedy Four Lions.

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Early life [edit]

Novak was born in Cricklewood, North London. He was privately educated at Highgate School.[3]

Career [edit]

Novak initially appeared as an extra on various British shows such as Family Affairs, Holby City, and Spooks. In 2005, he and Ed Tracy created Fonejacker, a prank call show as part of Comedy Lab for Channel 4.[4] After the pilot, he was given a Christmas special and a six-part series, which began airing on 5 July 2007 on E4 and 7 September 2007 on Channel 4. In November 2009, he appeared on the Channel 4 show The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, playing a bomb disposal officer. In April 2010, Novak began appearing in a spin-off of Fonejacker called Facejacker, in which he adopted various disguises, including several characters heard in Fonejacker. Novak announced on BBC Radio 1 in May 2012 that the character Terry Tibbs, a mainstay of both shows, would be getting a spin-off chat show which aired in August 2012.[5] Novak played Simon in the Channel 4 sitcom Bad Sugar.[2]

File:Kayvan novak.jpg
Kayvan Novak in 2012 at the British Comedy Awards

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 Sirens, which began on 27 June 2011 on Channel 4 in the UK. Novak also featured in two episodes of Phone Shop, the first in Series 1, entitled "The First Temptation of Chris", and the second in Series 2, entitled "Revenge of the Razz". He played area manager Razz Prince. In addition to acting, Novak has made appearances as himself on shows Soccer AM, Kiss 100, 8 out of 10 Cats, Celebrity Big Brother's Little Brother, Talksport, and Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

Novak appeared as an intelligence officer in the Academy Award-winning film Syriana. In 2008, he appeared in micro-budget B-movie The Blue Tower.[6] He also appeared in the 2010 British comedy Four Lions, in which he played the dim-witted Waj, a role for which he was won the award for Best Comedy Performance in a British Film at the British Comedy Awards in 2011, beating fellow actor Nigel Lindsay for the same award in the same film. Novak plans to create a film based on the Fonejacker and Facejacker characters, and is currently in talks with Film4 and Hat Trick Productions.[5]

Novak appeared as Alok in the first series of BBC Radio 4 comedy Fags, Mags and Bags. He has provided voice work for three video games: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Perfect Dark Zero, and Kameo. He also voiced various characters in the ITV spoof sketch show Headcases, and in the 2012 Channel 4 animated series Full English.

Personal life [edit]

Novak is a fan of Liverpool due to his uncle being a fan.[3] His favourite musician is Nadine Shah.[7] He currently resides In london and appeared at the Frankenweenie premiere in London on the 10th October 2012 with a mystery woman.


[8]

References [edit]

  1. ^ October 2008 interview for The Guardian, last accessed 5 June 2011
  2. ^ a b Kadivar, Darius Syriana breaks Iranian stereotypes, Persian Mirror, last accessed 3 August 2007.
  3. ^ a b kayvan-novak.co.tv
  4. ^ Comedy Lab, Channel 4, last accessed 3 August 2007.
  5. ^ a b International Business Times, last accessed 2 July 2011.
  6. ^ [1], last accessed 1 December 2012.
  7. ^ "Who the hell is...Nadine Shah?". Time Out London. Retrieved 2012-12-1. 
  8. ^ http://www.contactmusic.com/photo/kayvan-novak-56th-bfi-london-film-festival--frankenweenie-premiere--_5930440

External links [edit]