Introduction
Elyes Cherif Gabel (born 8 May 1983) is an English actor. Among his most notable roles, he has portrayed Dr. Gupreet "Guppy" Sandhu in the BBC medical drama Casualty, Dothraki Rakharo in Seasons 1 and 2 of the HBO series Game of Thrones, and P.E. teacher Rob Cleaver in the BBC drama Waterloo Road. He appeared in the ITV drama Identity and portrayed Detective Adam Lucas in Season 3 of Body of Proof. He is currently starring in the CBS series Scorpion as computer genius Walter O'Brien.
Early life
Gabel was born in Westminster, London and lived in Canada, before returning to the UK to live in Bristol and Manchester. He is of Algerian, French, Spanish, Dutch, Anglo-Indian, Irish, and Portuguese descent. He attended St Damian's Roman Catholic Science College in Ashton-Under-Lyne. He later trained at Strodes College, the Oldham Theatre Workshop and the Northern Kids Theatre Company.
Career
Gabel dropped out of drama school to appear on the children's television show I Love Mummy. He participated in stage productions of West Side Story, Oliver! and Diary of Anne Frank. In 2004, Gabel joined the cast of Casualty as Guppy Sandhu. He was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2005 National Television Awards for the role. He decided to leave Casualty in 2007 to pursue new acting challenges and concentrate on recording music with his band.
Gabel appeared as Vimel, a trainee priest, in the BBC drama Apparitions, alongside Martin Shaw. The first episode aired on BBC One on 13 November 2008. He went on to appear as Danny in the television horror series Dead Set, in which he is turned into a zombie. He then starred as P.E. teacher Rob Cleaver in the school drama Waterloo Road from series 4, which began on 7 January 2009.
Gabel starred in the 6-part ITV drama Identity as DC Jose Rodriguez, a member of the identity unit. He played Prince Djem, brother of Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire in episode 3 of Showtime's The Borgias. In May 2011, he played Shahrouz in the second series of Psychoville. He was later cast as the Dothraki "Bloodrider" Rakharo in HBO's Game of Thrones.
Gabel starred as Detective Adam Lucas in Season 3 of Body of Proof in 2013. Later that same year, he appeared in World War Z, a feature film. In 2014, he had a role in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. He appeared in Spooks: The Greater Good as Adem Qasim.
Gabel stars as Walter O'Brien on the American drama series Scorpion, based on the real life of Walter O'Brien. The series debuted on 22 September 2014 and was renewed for a second season in 2015. It was further renewed for a third season in March 2016, and for a fourth season in March 2017.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Boogeyman 3 | Ben | |
| 2011 | Kingdom of Dust | Ahmed | |
| 2011 | Everywhere and Nowhere | Jaz | |
| 2012 | Exit Strategy | Tarik Fayad | |
| 2012 | Widow Detective | Troy Vargas | |
| 2013 | Welcome to the Punch | Ruan Sternwood | |
| 2013 | World War Z | Andrew Fassbach | |
| 2014 | Interstellar | Administrator | |
| 2014 | A Most Violent Year | Julian | |
| 2015 | Spooks: The Greater Good | Adem Qasim |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Casualty | Jean-Claude Tournier | Episode: "Breaking Point" |
| 2002 | I Love Mummy | Nuff | Main cast |
| 2004 | Doctors | Steve | Episode: "They Never Cut The Cord" |
| 2004 | Casualty | Jude | Episode: "Where There's Life..." |
| 2004–07 | Casualty | Gurpreet "Guppy" Sandhu | Regular role |
| 2005 | Casualty@Holby City | Gurpreet "Guppy" Sandhu | Episode: "Teacher's Pet" |
| 2008 | Dead Set | Danny | Episode: 1.1, 1.3 (credit only), 1.5 (credit only) |
| 2008 | Apparitions | Vimal | Episode: 1.1 |
| 2009 | Waterloo Road | Rob Cleaver | Ten episodes |
| 2010 | Identity | DC Jose Rodriguez | Six episodes |
| 2011 | The Borgias | Prince Djem | Episode: "The Moor" |
| 2011 | Psychoville | Sharouz/Shahrauz | Five episodes |
| 2011–12 | Game of Thrones | Rakharo | Seven episodes |
| 2012 | Silent Witness | Umar | Episodes: "And Then I Fell in Love: Part 1", "And Then I Fell in Love: Part 2" |
| 2013 | Body of Proof | Det. Adam Lucas | Main cast (Season 3) |
| 2015 | The Messengers | Walter | One episode |
| 2014– present | Scorpion | Walter O'Brien | Main cast |