Ali Badshah

Ali Badshah is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, producer, and director. He was born Syed Ali Mehdi Rizvi Badshah in Toronto, Ontario in 1978. Badshah is the male lead in the Oscar-nominated feature film drama The Breadwinner. He has written and starred in five televised comedy specials for CBC, CTV, The Comedy Network, MTV and ABC2 Australia. An observational comedian whose work often draws on his experiences growing up in and around Toronto, Badshah has also written and performed for Video on Trial and was an associate producer for MuchMusic. Badshah created, executive produced, wrote, and starred in CBC's first web comedy series Bloody Immigrants. An alumnus of both The Second City and Yuk Yuk's, he was on the front page of the Toronto Star as one of the Top Ten People in the country – the only actor/comedian to ever appear on their list – and was featured on the Comedy Network's "Nubian Disciples Special", with Russell Peters and Dave Chappelle, as part of the "next generation of great Canadian comics".