Builder hopes Bin Laden film role could turn him into an acting hot property

 
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14 June 2012

His day job involves running a property company that specialises in designing and building bespoke homes in west London.

But today Ricky Sekhon told how he hopes to make it in the acting world after being plucked from obscurity to star as one of the most notorious figures of modern history.

Sekhon, 29, who grew up in Southall and now lives in Hornsey, is to play Osama bin Laden in a new film by Kathryn Bigelow, the Oscar-winning director of The Hurt Locker, about the capture of the terrorist accused of masterminding 9/11.

Sekhon returned last month from Jordan where he spent three weeks filming his scenes for the film — which has the working title of Zero Dark Thirty — in which he stars alongside Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Mark Strong and Jason Clarke.

The film, due for release in the US in December, tells the story of how the CIA and US special forces killed the al Qaeda leader.

For the past four years Sekhon, whose Swedish girlfriend Emma Norén is a fashion photographer, has run Surrey-based company Ashville Homes.

Sekhon has featured in a number of short films, adverts and documentaries, but his biggest acting role so far was in David Baddiel’s 2010 comedy The Infidel in which he played Hazeem.

He said the new role will provide him with the springboard to pursue his acting career. He said: “It’s going to be really exciting. There’s no two people who have as much integrity as the two filmmakers.”

Sekhon graduated from Royal Holloway, University of London, where he studied drama and theatre in 2004.

He was also a member of the National Youth Theatre at the same time as Doctor Who star Matt Smith, but he has never been to acting school.

He said: “It’s a disadvantage because you don’t get any of the contacts. You learn all the different aspects of the craft but you can’t really ask for attention in that sense.”

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