Arian Nik

Arian Nik was born in Leeds to Iranian parents and had a love for storytelling from a very young age. Despite his parent's persistent encouragement of academia and after receiving offers to study Broadcast Journalism at Goldsmiths, Leeds and Newcastle Universities, Nik bartered for his parents to let him audition for drama school. After being accepted and awarded a full scholarship, Arian at 18, left home to study BA Honours Acting at Mountview Academy where he later served on the Board of Trustees for a three-year term. Since leaving drama school, Nik has appeared in a plethora of television and film productions. Notably: Allelujah! alongside Judi Dench and Jennifer Saunders, directed by Sir Richard Eyre, Disney's Artemis Fowl, directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh, The Bower alongside Sharon D Clarke and ITV's The Bay. In 2022, Arian returned to the stage in Kabul Goes Pop by Waleed Akhtar. The two-hander was inspired by a true story of Afghanistan's first youth music TV programme amidst Taliban occupation. Vogue described it as "a gem among gems" and The Stage described Nik's performance as "perfectly cast...combining pop good looks with palpable charisma" Further theatre credits include The Village alongside Anya Chalotra at Theatre Royal Stratford East, The Ugly One alongside T'Nia Miller and Indra Ove at the Park and The Last Testament of Lillian Billocca written by Maxine Peake. As of 2023, Nik leads the ITVX comedy horror series Count Abdulla as the titular character Abdulla Khan, a Muslim doctor who gets bitten by a halal-hunting vampire played by Jaime Winstone. Alongside acting, Arian is a writer and activist. His activism focuses on humanitarian issues and the global refugee crisis. He recently published an article for Bricks magazine covering the Woman Life Freedom movement in Iran and appeared in the Royal Court's Sokhan Begoo which explored a series of commissions and plays by Iranian writers.