Amrou Al-Kadhi

Amrou Al-Kadhi is a queer British-Iraqi writer/performer/director.

Amrou's recent acting credits include: Sam Taylor-Johnson's BACK TO BLACK, starring Jack O'Connell and Lesley Manville, FX Network's AMERICAN HORROR STORIES, and DELIA BALMER, starring Anna Maxwell Martin.

Previous acting credits include: VENOM 2, starring Tom Hardy, Joanna Hogg's THE SOUVENIR PART 2, and Disney’s CHRISTOPHER ROBIN, starring Ewan McGregor.

Amrou co-wrote an episode of the Apple’s hit anthology series, LITTLE AMERICA, called THE SON. The Daily Beast called LITTLE AMERICA Apple’s first truly great show and The Review Geek wrote, “THE SON is the perfect send-off to round out a series that’s one of Apple TV’s best effort to date.”   Amrou is a successful screenwriter on various shows. They have written regularly for HOLLYOAKS, and wrote for the upcoming BBC America series, THE WATCH.

Amrou has several TV shows in development on both sides of the Atlantic.

Last year, Amrou wrapped on their debut feature, LAYLA, which they wrote and directed. LAYLA draws on Amrou’s lived experiences as a British-Iraqi drag performer in London, following struggling British-Palestinian drag performer Layla, whose confident façade hides a desire to be loved. The film is backed by Film4 and the BFI and is produced by UK producer Savannah James-Bayly of Fox Cub Films

Amrou is a very established drag performer, known as Glamrou, having set up the hugely successful drag troupe, Denim, which has sold out runs at The Soho Theatre and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Their debut solo show, GLAMROU, is currently touring.

As writer/director, they have created four short films that share a focus on queer intersectional people of colour. The latest is ANEMONE, with BBC Films and Film London, a film about a non-binary teenager who expresses their identity through the magic of marine life. The second is a commission for Nowness, an exploration of how female-bodied drag queen VICTORIA SIN transforms social space through their drag - this gained official entry into the BFI London Film Festival. The third is an autobiographical short film entitled RUN(A)WAY ARAB - which explores the relationship between drag culture and Middle-Eastern femininity, and a genderqueer Arab boy's memory of their Muslim mother; this was screened at The London Short Film Festival, BFI Flare, LA Outfest, and distributed by Peccadillo Pictures. The fourth is an experimental short documentary commissioned by the BFI & BBC4, called CLASH, critiquing the ways in which period dramas erase the diverse reality of Britain. It is told through candid interviews with queer people of colour, alongside staged parodic period drama sequences. It was broadcast on BBC4 on the 24th of September to 125k viewers, and is now available on BFI-player.

Photo credit: Harry Carr