Raza Jaffrey is a British actor. He is known for his roles as Zafar Younis in the BBC One spy drama series Spooks (2004–2007) and Neal Hudson in the CBS medical drama Code Black (2015). He also had a recurring role as Aasar Khan in season 4 of the Showtime series Homeland (2014). More recently, he appeared in the NBC series The Enemy Within (2019) and the Starz series The Serpent Queen (2022–2024).
Early life and education
Jaffrey's father, Hyder Jaffrey, was born in Agra, then part of India, and later moved to Pakistan after Partition. Hyder Jaffrey emigrated to the UK in 1948 to train in the merchant navy and later became a captain. Hyder met Joan Bradshaw, an Irish Catholic Liverpudlian, in the early 1950s and they lived in Karachi, Pakistan, for a decade. The couple married in 1962 and had four children, of whom Raza was the youngest.[1][better source needed]
Jaffrey's initial career aspiration was to become a Royal Air Force pilot and he passed the entrance exams for it and went on to study English and Drama at Manchester University with the intention of gaining a degree to join officer training. However while at university, he became interested in acting and joined the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School after graduation.[1]
While at university, Jaffrey appeared in several plays at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, including The London Vertigo by Brian Friel, and at the Pendley Open Air Shakespeare Festival, including Henry VIII and A Comedy of Errors. In his final year at Manchester, he worked with Royal Shakespeare Company chief associate director Gregory Doran, which he has cited as one of the things that led him to apply for Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and eventually go on to become a professional actor. Throughout his time at Manchester, he was also the lead singer of a jazz funk band. He also participated on America's Next Top Model.[citation needed]
In 2011, he appeared as the French supervillain Cain on the NBC superhero drama The Cape before working for NBC again on the Steven Spielberg–produced drama Smash, airing in early 2012. In Smash, he played Dev, the English boyfriend of a rising Broadway star,[6] working as a press officer in the New York Mayor's office.[7] He did not return to the show for its second season.[8][9] In 2019, Jaffrey played Ottoman Janissary Captain Sunal Demir in the historical romance drama film, Cliffs of Freedom.
Jaffrey still continues to sing and has performed in several concert productions, including singing at the London Palladium with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra,[10] and with the BBC Concert Orchestra for BBC Radio 2. He was also the creator and co-producer of the dance show RED, a celebration of dozens of styles of movement and dance, brought together by their influences on and from India. He took the show to Johannesburg's Nelson Mandela Theatre.[11] He played the role of Billy Flynn in Chicago at the Garrick Theatre in London.
Personal life
Jaffrey married actress Miranda Raison in 2007. They divorced two years later.[12] In 2012, Jaffrey began a relationship with actress Lara Pulver. The couple married two years later.[13] The couple have a son and daughter.[14]
