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Elyes Gabel is a musician and actor. You may have seen him in a variety of television shows. From his debut in the British medical drama Casualty to his role as Daenerys Targaryen’s Dothraki bodyguard in Game of Thrones to his award-winning portrayal of Walter O’Brien in Scorpion, his portfolio is diverse and somewhat eclectic. He doesn’t get typecast — he takes on a variety of characters and has been doing so for a little over two decades now.
These facts about his acting career are well known. What most people may not know is his equally diverse ethnic and cultural background and how his background has shaped his career as not just an actor but also a musician and as a strong supporter of various charities and movements.
On 2/28/23, Elyes posted a new song on his Instagram called LACUNA.
Elyes Gabel was born on May 8th, 1983, in Westminster, London. His family boasted a long descent from various parts of the world, making him Algerian, French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Anglo-Indian, and Irish.
Despite being born in England, young Elyes and his family would spend a few years living in Canada before eventually moving back to England and living in Manchester with his grandmother, Noreen Gurney. He would later talk about how his grandmother used to cook an Indian / Burmese dish called “Khow Suey” and how delicious her cooking was.
Elyes also attended various colleges and theatre schools where he was able to grow his talent for the stage. As a child, he went to St. Damian’s Roman Catholic Science College, a religious school that operates on Roman Catholic beliefs and teachings.
When his grandmother died from ALS, he was sixteen years old but already living alone in London to attend school. His grandmother’s death would have a major impact on his life going forward, but so, too, did his diverse background and upbringing, living in a few places before he was an adult.
The Impact
From the surface, Elyes’ unique background might not seem to mean much now that he’s an adult living in Los Angeles, but it does have some impact on who he is as an actor, what sort of characters he might play, and what sort of music he might make.
When he was 18, he left to film a TV show in Toronto, meaning that he’d once again left England and moved to Canada. Of course, all his early roles were for British television — and in that first ever role of his, he played Jean-Claude on Casualty, a French exchange student. When he landed a recurring role in that same show, he became Gurpreet “Guppy” Sandhu, an Indian doctor at the hospital.
In further roles, this trend continued, as Elyes Gabel proved he could play characters of various descents, himself being from these various backgrounds. He played Walter O’Brien on Scorpion, a real-life Irish businessman whose life events were dramatized and loosely followed on the show. He played a foreign terrorist leader named Adem Qasim in Spooks: The Greater Good and Prince Djem of the Ottoman Empire in The Borgias. In a similar vein, he played a Dothraki warrior on Game of Thrones, which is a fictional race that takes inspiration from various nomadic horse-riding tribes. All of this serves to prove that Gabel has the range to play a variety of characters of diverse backgrounds, likely due to his own ethnic diversity.
Beyond the characters he plays, the other aspects of Gabel’s life and career have also been influenced by how he grew up and the culture he grew up in.
A self-proclaimed “transient alien,” he’s admitted that he doesn’t particularly identify with any place he’s lived, which allows him to travel from country to country in order to do work and land roles. From England to Canada to the United States, he’s been able to explore new places and get opportunities without feeling out of place or homesick. This, too, has no doubt expanded his ability to get various roles.
The aspect of his childhood that has seemingly had the biggest impact on his adult life was the passing of his grandmother. The loss has made him passionate about fighting ALS, and he has partnered with the ALS Association on many occasions to raise money and awareness about their cause. His efforts in this area date back to 2014 and are still ongoing to this day, as he works to help prevent the disease, keep people informed, and keep his grandmother’s legacy alive.
Elyes Gabel Today
Elyes Gabel is an entertainer with an interesting background that allows him to play a diverse range of characters in a diverse range of works. His unique story has carried him through the years and will continue to carry him into the future. Don’t miss his new song and video called LACUNA.
