When he got his role In Coronation street, actor Junade Khan had been a bus driver for eight years, while doing occasional small acting jobs. Even a role in Game of Thrones failed to kickstart his career in the way he hoped. Aged 44, he was beginning to think that acting full-time was a pipe dream
But now Junade is a Corrie regular, playing hunky businessman Idris Nazir – Leanne Battersby’s latest love interest. He says: “I’d been a bus driver for eight years, doing little pieces of acting and it got to the point that I’d done so many self-tapes that I just didn’t want to do it anymore.
“I’ve got faith, I go to church and I pray and I always believe. But, if I’m honest, even my faith was getting a bit weak. I started to think that maybe this was it. I sent my agent an email last year saying I’d quit, but he told me that he believed in me and to just keep going. If it wasn’t for him, I would definitely have given up.
“I quit my job as a bus driver in March when I got the offer from Corrie. I went and told my manager. She asked me for a selfie; they were really chuffed for me.”
Ironically, while Junade’s acting career was in the doldrums for many years, his eight year-old daughter Alara-Star and five year-old son Pacino, were becoming rising stars.
Alara-Star was just two when she appeared in a TV advert for Orange filmed in Slovakia, Junade says: “We were there for ten days filming. They gave us money every day and she was only allowed to work for two hours, so I was taking her to water parks and zoos – it was like a holiday.”
Since then, she’s been in The Serial Killers Wife, the new Ridley Scott film The Dog Stars with Jacob Elordi and is in the upcoming Angelina Jolie movie Anxious People – even appearing on the film’s poster.
And Pacino has been in a Marvel film, also appearing in the TV series Waffle the Wonder Dog. Junade says: “My kids were starting to get acting jobs. They were becoming successful.” Of himself, he adds: “If I’m honest, I thought it was time to quit. It’s so surreal that we all got these jobs almost at the same time. I’m very proud of them.”
But, before he joined Corrie, he says: “They were like ‘Daddy, are you really an actor? We thought you were an actor Daddy, but we’re the ones getting all the jobs!’” Laughing, he adds: “It’s nice for them to see me on screen, although they do give me tips – ‘Daddy, that’s over-acting, you need to be more subtle!’”
Junade arrived on the cobbles in May as the cousin of lawyer Alya Nazir (Sair Khan). An ambitious businessman, he’s the street’s new heartthrob, having caught the eye of Tracy Barlow and Mary Taylor, as well as starting a romance with Leanne (Jane Danson).
But viewers will see a more ruthless side to him when it emerges that he is Abi Webster’s landlord. In shocking scenes to be screened next week, Abi’s son Alfie is rushed to hospital struggling to breathe, because of mould in his bedroom.
Junade explains: “Idris has bought some properties from a dodgy guy and not done a survey, which he should have done. He apologises and wants to put it right, but it’s too little too late.
“Then, when Leanne and Alya say it’s not his fault, it’s like a switch goes off and he decides he needs pay back. His reputation is at stake – if people feel they can mess you about then they’re going to walk all over you, so he decides to visit this guy and put him in his place.”
Idris persuades teenager Brody Michaelis (Ryan Mulvey) to help him kidnap the man. Junade says: “They stick him in the car, take him to wasteland and threaten him and Brody hits him. He gets Brody to do his dirty work, so that his own hands are clean.
“He’s got this darker side when it comes to business and dealing with people who have done him wrong, but at the same time there’s a humanity to him. He really likes Brody and pays him well. He loves Leanne and he’s also very good with her stepson Sam and gives him good advice.”
Junade became interested in acting, aged 18. Growing up in Yorkshire, he’d been an aspiring footballer until injury wrecked his chances. He says: “I played for Sheffield United and my dream was to be a professional, but I had two massive injuries. My Achilles ligament snapped and then I had a back injury. When I went back for the trial, they rejected me, which was sad.”
So, Junade turned to acting, studying at London’s East 15 acting school. His first role came in 2007, aged 25, when he was cast in the Asian comedy series My Life as a Popat. “It was my first audition and I got the job. I thought: ‘oh, this is easy man, it’s a piece of cake!’” Junade laughs.
And Idris is not the first Corrie character he has played. In 2008 he played Rosie Webster’s boyfriend Saj. Then nine years ago he was invited to screen test for the role of solicitor Imran Habeeb, which went to Charlie De Melo.
Junade recalls: “I was really gutted that I didn’t get it. I was working in a call centre at the time; I absolutely hated it. I’d wake up in the morning literally feeling physically sick and I was desperate for a way out. My wife was pregnant and I thought the Coronation Street job was going to sort us out.
“I even bought a Coronation Street magnet and put it on my fridge. It was only after I did my screen test for Idris that I remembered the magnet and it all came flooding back. It was like a full-circle moment, as if it was meant to be.”
Junade’s other acting credits include a year in Hollyoaks as villainous Ash Roy. Then, in 2016, he was cast in Game of Thrones as a Dothraki Bloodrider warrior.
He says: “A few years later I was driving my bus and a Dothraki warrior girl got on. She went ‘Jay? What are you doing?’ It was very surreal. She just could not believe that a fellow warrior was driving a bus.”
Junade’s last acting job before Idris was playing a policeman in two episodes of Emmerdale last year. He continues: “I was still driving when they sent me my first seven episodes. I remember driving across London Bridge and thinking ‘how am I going to learn these lines?’ This fear just hit me like a ton of bricks. I got home and I said to wife ‘maybe they’ve made a mistake, I don’t think I can do it anymore.’ And she said ‘you can. It’s just panic.’”
Junade lives in Beckenham, south London, where his wife Gem runs PopGems Academy, a children’s drama and dance school.
He says: “I appreciate this role in Coronation Street ten times more, because I know how difficult it is out there to get a job that’s for more than six months. It’s the friendliest place I’ve ever worked, so it’s been worth the wait. I’m glad I never gave up. It’s like a dream come true.”
*Coronation Street airs weekdays on ITV at 8:30 PM and ITVX at 7 AM
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