Himesh Patel

British actor Himesh Patel revealed his musical side when he was cast as singer/songwriter Jack Malik in director Danny Boyle's 2019 Beatles-inspired fantasy film Yesterday. Born in 1990 in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire to Gujarati parents, as a child Patel enjoyed doing impressions of his favorite TV characters and discovered a talent for acting at age 11 when he was cast in a school play. As a teenager, he was a fan of indie rock and learned to play piano and guitar. He landed his first major role at the age of 16, in the popular soap opera EastEnders, following up with TV roles in the sitcoms Damned and Motherland. He appeared on stage opposite David Tennant in Don Juan in Soho. His breakthrough role came in 2019 as singer/songwriter Jack Malik in Yesterday, in which his character wakes up one day to discover he is the only person in the world who can remember the Beatles and proceeds to become famous by playing their songs. Patel played guitar on and sang all the songs in the film, which were released on a soundtrack album. The role thrust him into the spotlight and secured him roles in The Aeronauts, with Felicity Jones; the TV miniseries The Luminaries, with Eva Green; and Christopher Nolan's 2020 spy thriller Tenet, with Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki.
© John D. Buchanan /TiVo