As a child, Patel was a fan of action movies after he snuck downstairs and saw scenes from a Bruce Lee film on his parents' TV set.[13] Patel grew up in the Rayners Lane district of Harrow and attended Longfield Primary School and Whitmore High School. Patel had his first acting role as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in the school's production of Twelfth Night.[6] At Whitmore High, he received an A* in GCSE Drama for his "self-penned portrayal of a child in the Beslan school siege." His drama teacher Niamh Wright said, "Dev was a gifted student, who quickly impressed me with his innate ability to communicate a wide variety of characters imaginatively and creatively. He was awarded full marks for his GCSE performance to a live audience, and the visiting examiner was moved to tears by his honest portrayal."[14] He completed his A Levels in PE, Biology, History, and Drama in 2007 at Whitmore High School while working on Skins.
Patel said that he was "bloody energetic" as a child, and used to get in trouble because of it. He started training at the Rayners Lane Academy of Taekwondo in 2000.[15] He competed regularly in both national and international championships, including the 2004 AIMAA (Action International Martial Arts Association) World Championships in Dublin, where he won a bronze medal.[9][16][17] The World Championships took place in October 2004, when he competed as a red belt in the junior division against other red and black belts. He made it to the semi-finals, where he lost to an Irish black belt, named Niall Fitzmaurice, in "a very close and tough fight" and ended up winning a bronze medal.[16] Later, in March 2006, he earned a 1st dan black belt.[18]
Career
2006–2007: Early work
In 2006, Patel's professional acting career began when he auditioned for the E4teen drama television series Skins. His mother saw the casting advertisement in Metro and took him to the audition, even though he had a science exam the next day.[6][19] After two auditions, he was cast in the role of Anwar Kharral, a British PakistaniMuslim teenager.[6] The characterisation of Anwar was partly based on Patel's own personality, as the role was developed specifically for him once he was cast in Skins.[20] With no prior professional acting experience, recalled that, on "the first day of shooting, I didn't really know what to do."[6]
The first series of the show aired in January 2007 and went on to win the Rose d'Or for Drama in 2008 and receive a nomination for Best Drama Series at the 2008 BAFTA Television Awards.[21][22] Patel reprised his role as Anwar for the second series of Skins, which aired in February 2008. The second series of Skins won the Philips Audience Award at the 2009 BAFTA Television Awards.[23]
2008–2010: Career breakthrough
Patel made his feature film debut when he was cast in the role of Jamal Malik, the central character in Danny Boyle's film Slumdog Millionaire.[24] The Jamal Malik character is an Indian Muslim boy born and brought up in the poverty of Bombay, India.[25] Boyle considered hundreds of young male actors, but found that Bollywood leads were generally "strong, handsome hero-types", not the personality he was looking for.[26] Boyle's 17-year-old daughter Caitlin pointed him to Skins.[26][27]
After five auditions for the role,[28] Patel was eventually cast in August 2007.[29] The film's producer found the original choice for the lead role, Ruslaan Mumtaz, too good-looking for the role.[30] Boyle said, "I wanted a guy who didn't look like a potential hero; I wanted him to earn that in the film."[6] To prepare for the role, Patel went along with Boyle while scouting for filming locations, where he was able to observe the Dharavi slums for himself. He also worked at a call-center for a day and in a hotel, where he washed dishes.[31][32]
Patel played Zuko in M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, a feature film adaptation of the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender,[45][46][47] which was released on 1 July 2010 to extremely negative reviews. Despite being a commercial success, the film was a critical failure and Patel even received a Razzie Award nomination as Worst Supporting Actor that year, although his role was well received, and was considered by many to be one of the film's positive aspects.[48]
Patel later starred in the short film The Commuter,[49] which was directed by McHenry Brothers to promote the Nokia N8 smartphone in the UK[50] Fans who won a Nokia UK run competition starred alongside Dev Patel in the short film.[51][52]
In 2014, Patel starred alongside Robert Sheehan and Zoë Kravitz in the film, The Road Within, about three unlikely friends with various disabilities who go on a road trip. The film received generally mixed reviews. Variety had positive words for the "bristling and committed performances by Robert Sheehan, Dev Patel and Zoe Kravitz" while noting that "there remains a nagging tidiness to the whole endeavor that leaves a strained, cloying aftertaste" that kept the movie from truly succeeding.[57]
In 2021, Patel starred in The Green Knight, based on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, directed by David Lowery.[67][68] In April of that year, he signed a deal to "produce, develop and create projects" with ShivHans Pictures.[69] Towards the end of 2021, Patel established his own production company, Minor Realm.[70]
Patel made his directorial debut with the 2024 action thriller film Monkey Man, as announced in 2018. In addition to directing, Patel stars in the film, and is credited as a co-writer and producer.[72][73] The film was initially set to be distributed by Netflix,[74] but Jordan Peele, having seen the film, felt that it deserved a theatrical release instead, so he acquired it from Netflix under his Monkeypaw Productions banner.[75]Monkey Man had its world premiere at South by Southwest on 11 March 2024.[76] It had its Sydney premiere on 2 April 2024,[77] and was released in Australian cinemas on 4 April 2024.[78] It was released by Universal Pictures in the US on 5 April 2024.[76]
Patel will executive produce and star in the Miramax miniseries The Key Man as disgraced businessman Arif Naqvi,[79] and will join Olivia Colman in Wicker.[80]
Personal life
Patel began dating his Slumdog Millionaire co-star Freida Pinto in 2009.[81] On 10 December 2014, the couple announced that they had split after nearly six years of dating.[82]
In March 2017, Patel's relationship with Australian actress Tilda Cobham-Hervey became public. They met nine months earlier on the set of Hotel Mumbai.[83] In April 2022 they moved to Cobham-Hervey's home town, Adelaide, in South Australia.[84] In August 2022, Patel featured in the local news after he broke up a fight in Gouger Street in Adelaide city centre.[85] The couple posed for photographs together for the first time on the red carpet at the Los Angeles premiere of Patel's debut feature as a director, Monkey Man, on 2 April 2024.[86]