Khalid Abdalla Movies and Career Information

Khalid Abdalla (born 1980) is a British actor. He came to international prominence after starring in the 2006 Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning film, United 93. Written and directed by Paul Greengrass, it chronicles events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked as part of the September 11 attacks. Abdalla plays Ziad Jarrah, the pilot and leader of the four hijackers on board the flight. He is also on the board of the National Student Drama Festival. Abdalla was born in Glasgow, Scotland of Egyptian heritage, and raised in London, England. He was educated at King's College School (in the same year group as actor Ben Barnes and comedian Tom Basden) and Cambridge University. He came to acting through his school's thriving drama scene, where his performances included the title role in Macbeth. In 1998, he directed a production of Someone Who'll Watch Over Me by Frank McGuinness, which ended up having a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival and earned five stars in The Scotsman newspaper, making him the youngest director to receive this accolade. He spent a gap year driving from Lebanon to Syria to the West Bank and Jordan. He returned to Palestine with the 2008