Bio
Adhir Kalyan is a South African actor best known for his role as Raja, a Pakistani teenager who finds himself confronting American misconceptions in a small Wisconsin town, in the television sitcom Aliens in America, from 2007-2008.
Kalyan was born and raised in Durban, South Africa, where his mother, Sandy Kalyan, is a member of Parliament in the South African National Assembly.
He began his career in the South African theatre, performing in productions of Macbeth, Oliver, A Christmas Carol and The Ground Beneath Her Feet.
Moving to London in 2005, Kalyan landed memorable roles in the BBC series Holby City VIII and Spooks V. He also secured supporting roles in the independent films Out Loud, The Eastern Bride and The Sunflower, for director Lance Samuels.
Kalyan has an impressive command of languages and accents. He speaks both Afrikaans and French, and has wide range of accents including British, South African, Middle Eastern, Indian, Pakistani, Scottish, French and Australian, as well as several American accents.
Although his character in Aliens in American is a Muslim, Kalyan himself is of Indian descent and not a Muslim.