Amrou Al-Kadhi

Amrou Al-Kadhi is a British-Iraqi writer, drag performer, and filmmaker whose work focuses on queer identity, cultural representation and racial politics.[1]

Early life and education

Amrou Al-Kadhi was born on 23 June 1990 into a tight-knit conservative Iraqi Muslim family in London. They were brought up in Dubai and Bahrain, before the family moved back to London.[2] They claim that discovering marine biology and quantum physics helped him to understand their queer identity.[3][4] They have a twin brother.[5]

In 2006, Amrou Al-Kadhi was awarded a two-year scholarship to Eton College where they did their A-levels,[2][6] then graduated from the University of Cambridge with a BA and M.Phil in the History of Art.[7]

Amrou's stage name is Glamrou. While at Cambridge University, they created and led the musical comedy drag troupe Denim,[8] for which they co-wrote and performed in the following shows.[9] More recently they have left the troupe in order to concentrate on solo performance in a show called Glamrou: From Quran to Queen.[10]

Year	Title	Role	Venue	Producer
2018	Denim: The Reunion Tour	Co-writer, perfomer	Soho Theatre	United Agents[11]
2018	The Denim Juniors	Co-writer, perfomer	Soho Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe[12]	United Agents
2017	Denim: World Tour	Co-writer, perfomer	Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe[13]
2016	Denim	Co-writer, perfomer	The Vault Festival[14]
2016	Denim Titanique	Co-writer, perfomer		RC Granville & United Music

Career

Films

Their first acting role, at the age of fourteen, was in Steven Spielberg's film Munich, where they played the role of an Islamic terrorist's son. They have commented that, as an Arab actor, they have been approached to play the role of a terrorist almost thirty times.[15]

They have two feature films in development - as writer/director, "Layla", with Film 4 & Fox Cub Films and "Oh, Molly" with BBC Films & Sarah Brocklehurst Productions.[16]

Year	Title	Role	Production
2018	Christopher Robin	Actor, Nemir Azizi (London Ticket Attendant)[17]
2018	Anenome	Director and writer	BBC films and Film London[18]
2017	Victoria Sin	Director and writer	Nowness, Revry[18]
2017	Run(a)way Arab	Director and writer	Peccadillo Pictures & Revry[18]
2017	Clash	Director and writer	BBC4 Broadcast, BFI, Revry[18]
2016	Nightstand	Writer and performer[19]

Television

Amrou has three TV-series in development - as writer and creator, "Targets," with BBC Drama, as star, co-creator and co-writer, "Nefertiti", a comedy series in development with Big Talk Productions, and as co-star, co-creator and co-writer, "Beards", in development with Playground Entertainment.[20]

Year	Title	Role	Production
2020	The Watch	Co-writer, episode 106	BBC America / BBC Studios[21]
2019	Little America	Co-writer of 'The Son' episode	Apple Original Series/Universal Television[22]
2018	Hollyoaks	Writer of episodes 5032, 5092, 5180 and 5275	Channel 4[23]

Writing

Their autobiography, Life as a Unicorn: A Journey From Shame to Pride and Everything In Between, was published in 2019 and tells the story of their estrangement from and final reconciliation with their mother and Islam.[24][25] In 2020, it won the Society of Authors' Somerset Maugham Award.[26] They write a fortnightly opinion column for The Independent, and a monthly column in Gay Times[27]. They have also contributed to GQ,[28] The Guardian, Attitude, CNN and Little White Lies.[29] They write on topics ranging from queer identity and Islamophobia, to the philosophy of marine biology and film criticism.

Awards and honors

Year	Recognition
2020	Special guest at Britain's first Muslim Pride[30]
2019	TEDxLondon talk[31]
2018	Screen International Star of Tomorrow[32]
2017	BFI/BAFTA Flare LGBTQ+ emerging filmmakers[32]
2016	Network@LFF emerging filmmakers

In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade, Queerty named them among the fifty heroes “leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people”.[33][34]

References

External links

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[1] "Amrou Al-Kadhi | The Guardian". the Guardian. Retrieved 2020-08-13.

[theguardian-2] ttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/oct/09/muslim-drag-queen-amrou-al-kadhi-whenever-the-drag-came-off-id-have-a-nervous-breakdown

[3] ttps://www.waterstones.com/book/unicorn/amrou-al-kadhi/9780008306069

[4] ttps://www.ted.com/talks/amrou_al_kadhi_what_quantum_physics_taught_me_about_my_queer_islamic_identity

[5] ttps://www.firstpost.com/living/amrou-al-kadhis-unicorn-the-memoir-of-a-muslim-drag-queen-is-the-searing-autobiography-the-community-needs-7779681.html

[6] ttps://www.thebookshop.com.au/forthcoming/life-as-a-unicorn-a-journey-from-shame-to-pride-and-everything-in-between/

[7] ttps://www.bfi.org.uk/people/amrou-al-kadhi

[8] ttps://www.thebookseller.com/news/4th-estate-scoops-drag-queens-memoir-six-figures-742996

[9] ttps://www.unitedagents.co.uk/amrou-al-kadhi#film_tv_theatre

[10] ttps://twnews.co.uk/gb-news/muslim-drag-queen-amrou-al-kadhi-whenever-the-drag-came-off-i-d-have-a-nervous-breakdown

[11] ttps://www.chortle.co.uk/review/2018/11/19/41729/denim:_the_reunion_tour

[12] ttps://www.comedy.co.uk/fringe/2018/denim_juniors

[13] ttps://broadwaybaby.com/news/edfringe17-comedy-qa-amrou-al-kadhi-from-denim-the-world-tour/1833

[14] ttps://www.gaytimes.co.uk/culture/28008/glamrou-and-the-denim-queens-come-in-peace-to-talk-vault-festival-and-saving-lgbt-spaces/

[15] ttps://www.independent.co.uk/voices/oscars-la-la-land-moonlight-arab-muslim-actor-audition-terrorist-i-am-done-a7595261.html

[16] ttps://www.imdb.com/name/nm2090270/bio

[17] ttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt4575576/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

[soundcloud-18] ttps://soundcloud.com/5x15/amrou-al-khadi

[19] ttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt4356466/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

[20] ttps://www.imdb.com/name/nm2090270/bio

[21] ttps://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/BBC-America-Announces-Cast-for-New-Series-THE-WATCH-20190911

[22] ttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt8000674/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

[23] ttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112004/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

[24] ttps://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/theatre/amrou-alkadhi-interview-glamrou-drag-queen-a4364166.html

[25] ttps://www.independent.co.uk/author/amrou-al-kadhi

[26] ttps://www.aol.co.uk/entertainment/2020/06/17/muslim-drag-performer-wins-society-of-authors-award-for-debut-me

[27] ttps://www.gaytimes.co.uk/community/97922/human-beings-arent-products-try-package-us/

[28] ttps://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/article/unicorn-amrou-al-kadhi

[29] ttps://broadwaybaby.com/news/edfringe17-comedy-qa-amrou-al-kadhi-from-denim-the-world-tour/1833

[30] ttps://www.gaytimes.co.uk/community/132932/worlds-first-muslim-pride-in-london-announces-special-guests/

[31] ttps://tedxlondon.com/attend/beyondborders2019/speakers/AmrouAl-Kadhi

[futurefest-32] ttps://futurefest.org/speaker/amrou-al-kadhi-2/

[33] "Queerty Pride50 2020 Honorees". Queerty. Retrieved 2020-06-30.

[34] Gremore, Graham (2020-07-21). "These queer writers are giving voice to our diversity one word at a time". Queerty. Retrieved 2020-08-13.