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Athar ul-Haque Malik (born 13 November 1952), known professionally as Art Malik, is a British-Pakistani actor. He achieved international fame in the 1980s through his starring and supporting roles in assorted British television serials and films. He is best known for his portrayal of the out-of-place Hari Kumar in The Jewel in the Crown at the outset of his career.

Malik is also well known for his roles in the James Bond film The Living Daylights, and True Lies.

Early life

Malik was born Athar ul-Haque Malik on 13 November 1952 in Bahawalpur, Pakistan, the son of Zaibunisa and Mazhar ul-Haque Malik, a doctor who worked as an ophthalmic surgeon in Britain. When his father got a job as a surgeon in Moorfields Eye Hospital, Malik was brought to London in 1956, aged three. From the age of eleven, he attended Bec Grammar School in Tooting.

After an unsatisfactory stint of business studies and a term studying acting at the Questors Theatre, he won a scholarship to Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Before long, he was working with the Old Vic and Royal Shakespeare companies.

Career

In 1982, five years after leaving Guildhall, Malik was cast as Hari Kumar in the Granada Television production of The Jewel in the Crown, based on Paul Scott's Raj Quartet.

In 1987, he played Kamran Shah, an Afghan Mujahideen leader who allies with James Bond and leads a raid against Soviet invaders in the 007 film The Living Daylights.

Malik played the role of the son of an Indian mobster in the 1992 film City of Joy and, in 1993, narrated Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories on BBC television's Jackanory.

In 1994, Malik played his first big screen villain, Salim Abu Aziz, a stereotypical Islamist, opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in True Lies. Malik accepted the role, which he described as "a hoot", at a time when he had been 14 months without work and was being pursued by the Inland Revenue for £32,000. Following his appearance in True Lies, Malik was offered several roles in other action films, but turned them down, later explaining, "I didn't want to do action movies that weren't as good." He instead accepted a role in the film Clockwork Mice. Malik took the lead role in the West End production of Tom Stoppard's 1995 play Indian Ink.

In 1999, Malik played the supporting role of Olympos, the court doctor to Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, in the ABC miniseries Cleopatra.

In 2001, he narrated the television documentary Hajj: The Journey of a Lifetime for broadcast on BBC Two and in 2002 he narrated the three part television mini-series The British Empire in Colour for TWI/Carlton Television.

He also played Milkha Singh's father in the 2013 Hindi language film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, his first appearance in a film produced in India.

Malik had a starring role in Tom Fontana's historical television series Borgia, which ran from 2011 to 2014.

In 2014, Malik played Bunran "Bunny" Latif, a retired Pakistani general in season four of Homeland, returning in the same role in season eight in 2020.

In 2017 he appeared in the first series of Bancroft.

Malik appeared in the second episodes of both series 8 of the show Doc Martin in 2017 and series 11 of Doctor Who, "The Ghost Monument" in 2018.

Personal life

By Malik's own account, the sudden success he enjoyed in 1984 resulted in his excessive drinking. "I was surrounded by people who admired me and I took all of that home with me," he said when interviewed in 2003. "I paid lots of attention to my ego, and not enough to my spirit. It was totally unhealthy, like an illness." The result was a strain on his marriage, leading to his wife leaving him. He also ran up high bills on his credit card, and by 1993 he owed £55,000 to the bank and £32,000 to the Inland Revenue, and was on the verge of being declared bankrupt when he got the lucrative part of Salim Abu Aziz, a terrorist, in James Cameron's True Lies. He and his wife reunited.

Malik took a major role in fundraising for relief work for victims of the Gujarat earthquake in 2001, and also appeared on the DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal advertisement in 2010.

He lives with his wife Gina Rowe, a fellow student at the Guildhall, whom he married in 1980. They have two daughters, Jessica and Keira. Although from a Muslim background, and having insisted that his character on Holby City should be a Muslim, Malik describes himself as "not a practising Muslim. I'm probably an apostate, and liable for any right-minded Muslim fundamentalist to put me on a list of people to stamp out".

Filmography

Film

Television

References

1. "Art Malik Biography (1952-)". filmreference.com.
2. ^ James Rampton (24 January 1998). "The Artful dodger Interview: Art Malik". The Independent. Archived from the original on 20 November 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
3. ^ Judith Woods (3 June 2003). "I try to be a better person. Every day". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
4. The Story of Jackanory, BBC Four on YouTube. Video from 51:24
5. Ray Richmond (20 May 1999). "Cleopatra". Variety. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
6. "Hajj". Genome.BBC. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
7. The British Empire in Colour, imdb.com. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
8. Documentary: The British Empire in Colour, britishempire.co.uk. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
9. Priya Joshi (12 July 2013). "Art Malik interview: 'I would love to work in Indian film again'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
10. Leffler, Rebecca (26 March 2012). "Tom Fontana's 'Borgia' Gets Second Season Order". The Hollywood Reporter.
11. "Nimrat Kaur lands role in US series Homeland". India TV. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
    - Gilbert, Sophie (20 October 2014). "Homeland: Carrie Gets Even Worse". The Atlantic. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
12. Jeffery, Morgan (18 September 2018). "Doctor Who reveals series 11, episode 2 title and guest stars". Digital Spy.
13. Shazia Hasan (22 October 2017). "I've turned down many films because I thought they were exploitative, says Art Malik". Images. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
14. Eddy, Cheryl (9 September 2022). "Disney's Live-Action Little Mermaid Shares Its First Teaser".

External links

• Art Malik at IMDb
• Art Malik at the BFI's Screenonline
• Portraits of Art Malik at the National Portrait Gallery, London

• 1952 births
• Living people
• 20th-century English male actors
• 21st-century English male actors
• Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
• English male film actors
• English male stage actors
• English male television actors
• English people of Pakistani descent
• British actors of Pakistani descent
• Male actors from London
• Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
• Pakistani emigrants to the United Kingdom
• People from Bahawalpur
• Royal Shakespeare Company members