Jan Uddin

Jan Uddin (born 1985) is an English actor of Bangladeshi descent. He is best known for his roles in the BBC soap opera EastEnders playing Jalil Iqbal, the role of Sweet Boy in the 2010 film Shank, or in the film Boogie Woogie.

Early and personal life

Uddin was born in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, England. He moved to London at the age of 19 and then trained to become an actor at the Academy Drama School. In July 2010, Uddin revealed that his father used to beat him viciously, refused to let him watch TV or read books, and one night dragged his family back to Bangladesh. Of this Uddin said, “he just shoved us in a van, and next thing we knew we were no longer living in Birmingham but in Bangladesh. For a whole year, we all had a horrible time because he told us we were never coming back to England.” Uddin further revealed that he had been involved with gangs, and that his mother is battling cancer for the fifth time.

Career

In 2007, Uddin was twice credited as Jan Dean when appearing in acting roles, for Casualty and in the film Famous Last Words. In 2008, Uddin appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders as Jalil Iqbal, a love interest for Shabnam Masood (Zahra Ahmadi). His character first appears on 17 March and departs on 28 March. Uddin states: “I used to come to work and have crumpets with Barbara Windsor every morning which was brilliant as I used to have a crush on her too, I was all coy and pretended to be all harmless and she would pinch my cheeks and I would think ‘yeah, go on!’