Ramon Tikaram

Ramon Tikaram
Born	Ramon Pramod Junior Tikaram May 16, 1967 (1967-05-16) Singapore
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1994 - present

Ramon Pramod Junior Tikaram (born May 16, 1967 in Singapore) is a British stage and screen actor of Indo-Fijian and Malaysian descent.

Early and personal life

Tikaram is the son of Fijian-Indian British Army soldier Pramod Tikaram and Sarawakian mother Fatimah Rohani. His younger sister is singer-songwriter Tanita Tikaram. Tikaram is the great-nephew of Sir Moti Tikaram who was the first Lord Chief Justice of an independent Fiji and the world's longest serving national ombudsman.

After attending six primary schools in the United Kingdom and Germany, Tikaram was sent to the Duke of York's Royal Military School in Dover, Kent in 1978. Achieving proficiency in all things military including firearms and the tuba, his early affinity for the theatre was inspired by legendary drama teacher Ben Johnson, himself a former pupil.^{[citation needed]}

Tikaram has three children and now divides his time between London and Wiltshire.

Career

After attending the National Youth Theatre in 1982 and after appearing in Tom Stoppard's After Magritte at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1984, Tikaram decided to read an economics and politics degree at the University of London, switching to English at the University of Kent. He gained a first class honours degree in 1990. Ostensibly moving to Dublin to follow in the footsteps of his heroes James Joyce and W.B. Yeats^{[citation needed]}, he ended up writing and recording for Deutsche Schallplatten in Berlin. In 1992 he released an album of songs Chill and Kiss throughout Europe. He returned to acting in 1994, gaining profile for his performances in the film Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love in 1995 and the BBC television drama This Life in which he played the character Ferdy.

In 2002 he played the part of Eddy Weaver in 4 episodes of the remade TV series Crossroads.

Tikaram has also enjoyed a varied and successful theatrical career since his portrayal of Judas Iscariot in the 1997 West End production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Lyceum. His other acclaimed performances include the portrayal of Rama in The National Theatre's 2002 adaptation of The Ramayana, and Gaddafi in Gaddafi: A Living Myth, a dub/punk opera by Asian Dub Foundation, staged by the English National Opera in 2006. Other television credits include Tokaya in the 2005 BBC Television production Krakatoa - The Last Days, BBC TV's Silent Witness and Immie in Penny Woolcock's film Mischief Night.

In Dream Team he played Harchester United Chairman Prashant Dattani who was a popular to fans at the time

In 2009, Tikaram appeared in the BBC daytime mini series Moving On. He also appeared in three episodes of the ITV science fiction television programme Primeval.

In October 2009, it was announced that Tikaram would appear in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. He played the part of Qadim Shah, father of the already established character Amira Shah. He appeared on-screen in the role from 17 December 2009 to 29 April 2010 in two separate stints, he returned on 6 September 2011 but left again and returned on the 6 January and left again. Tikaram also provided voice acting for the character of Gabe Weller in the 2009 video game Dead Space: Extraction.

Tikaram returned to Videogaming by providing his voice and likeness for Gabe Weller again in the Downloadable content for Dead Space 2 Dead Space 2: Severed

On 13 June 2010 Tikaram also appeared on Jackanory Junior, a Cbeebies daytime television programme, to read 'The Little Bear Stories'.

Selected film and television credits

• Primeval
• The Mighty Boosh
• This Life
• Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
• Mile High
• Crossroads
• Dream Team
• Mischief Night
• My Spy Family
• Eastenders
• Dean Spanley

External links

• Ramon Tikaram at the Internet Movie Database
• BBC News Online: "This Life's Ferdy not coming back" from October 2006