Saraj Chaudhry has worked extensively in film, television and theatre both in the UK and abroad. He grew up in Nottingham and studied Performing Arts at Clarendon College for 2 years before moving to the south of England in 1998 after receiving a scholarship to train at the prestigious drama school Guildford School of Acting. He graduated 3 years later in 2001 with the Principle's Award for Acting.
He left drama school a few months earlier to start work on his first feature film Bend It Like Beckham, where he played the character Sonny. Since then, he has worked on several successful movies, such as: Tariq in Bollywood Queen and Thomas in Check Mate.
Television work includes: George Cartwright - (Regular), Adventure, The Bill (ITV – Guest lead) Adventure Inc (American Series/HBO/Sky TV – Guest Lead), Casualty (BBC - Guest lead) Abu, Monkey Dust, (BBC - Guest lead) Paradise Heights, (BBC - Guest lead) NCS (BBC - Guest lead).
Theatre work includes: A Disappearing Number, Theatre De Complicite, at the Barbican, Ashish in White Open Spaces (Edinburgh, Pleasance Dome - London, Soho Theatre) which was nominated for a South Bank Show Award, Bobby in Players (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Nitin in Indi-Yaar (Young Vic - Paines Plough) Pablo in Penguin Suits & Sequins (Waterman's Arts Centre), Arab Boy in Murder (Gate Theatre), Dan in Closer (Cochrane Theatre), Gordon/Father in The Dining Room (Cochrane Theatre), Soranzo in Tis Pity She's A Whore (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre), Jason in Medea (Bellerby Theatre), Romeo in Romeo & Juliet (Electric Theatre), Archer in The Beaux Stratagem (Bellerby Theatre).
As a young British Asian actor, Saraj Chaudhry's career has established him a reputation for his ability to be versatile in the range of characters he has portrayed both in film and on stage. His performance in the play White Open Spaces at the Soho Theatre in the west end of London received rave reviews from critics, winning over audiences and being Nominated for a South Bank Show Award.
His acting passion has always been influenced and inspired by practitioners such as Lee Strasburg, Sanford Meisner, David Mamet and Uda Hagen. He has a wide range of skills with fluency in Hindi, Urdu & Punjabi, Advanced BADC level in Stage Combat & Fight Choreography. He is skilled in a range of martial arts styles with the use of different weapons and since the age of 17, has specifically trained in Jeet Kune Do.
His latest acting project was with the award winning theatre company “Theatre de Complicite” in a play called “A Disappearing Number”, which examined the famous relationship between Godfrey Harold Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan, two mathematical geniuses which had a sold out run at the Barbican Theatre in London 2007. In 2008 it was awarded the Best New Play by the Olivier Awards, Evening Standard Awards and the Critics Circle Theatre Awards.